


Completing His World

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Triple Frontier (2019)
Genre: Angst, Catfish and son, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Frankie named his son after his grandpa, Friends to Lovers, Hawaii, Hurt/Comfort, Revenge, Rose Kavanaugh, Sentimental, Snipers, Team, Team as Family, Welsh lullabies, bromance and romance, father & son relationship, houseboat, redhead, stolen money
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:53:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: After everything that happened in the jungle and the mountains, Frankie just wanted to go home and forget. Now, with a new baby, his past comes back to haunt him. An op, from when he and the team were still Active Duty, with a villain who had nursed a grudge for six years. However, a vengeful villain isn't the only ghost from Frankie's past- a sniper with a special connection to Francisco 'Catfish' Morales. Will the four remaining team members, and their resident sniper, be enough to keep everyone safe this time around? And what about those coordinates Will gave Pope at the end of the movie, with his thought about doing some good with it?
Relationships: Francisco "Catfish" Morales & Baby Morales, Francisco "Catfish" Morales & Ben Miller, Francisco "Catfish" Morales & William "Ironhead" Miller, Francisco "Catfish" Morales/Original Female Character, Santiago "Pope" Garcia & Francisco "Catfish" Morales, Santiago "Pope" Garcia & William "Ironhead" Miller, Santiago "Pope" Garcia/Yovanna
Comments: 21
Kudos: 27





	1. Shadows of the Past(and Pancake Breakfasts)

**Author's Note:**

> Triggers: These guys all have some level of PTSD and I don't shy away from how badly their experiences have messed them up. Mentions end of life patients and newborns hooked up to machines at hospitals, Frankie's ex leaving him & the baby, what killing costs a person, and drug use (including smoking during pregnancy & ADHD meds in general). Also- SWEARING- which I haven't generally done in my writing but it is weird trying to write these guys without having them swear a little. Especially at the beginning, before Frankie's kid is around.
> 
> Notes: I've only watched the movie all the way through once (the donkey bit and a couple other pieces were a bit Much for me, so I skip over stuff now when I re-watch), so I apologize if there are any continuity errors. I would like to thank Tumblr for kicking my butt into gear to edit and post this work. Also, Frankie was my favorite character (I thought Benny was going to be, since Garrett Hedlund characters tend to steal the movie for me) and I loved how he did seem to have some moral compass going on, despite how screwed up the situation was and where his life was when things start out.

Two Months Before South America

Francisco ‘Catfish’ Morales gaped at his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Jessica. He understood that they had been through some series things in the past year. She had gotten a promotion with new hours and responsibilities, they had broken up, she had started dating someone else, Frankie had gotten a job with a tourist airliner group flying people over the California views, learning they were expecting, moving in together, them getting busted with coke in their possession, her getting fired, him being up for review with his licence, all being particular highlights. But now…

“You really got offered a job… in England?”, he asked for the third time.

“Yes. A client I used to work for, he loved my eye for detail and thinks I would make an excellent addition to his team. I’d have my own apartment for the first six months, rent-free, to help me get settled. He even said he is willing to wait for me to have the baby and take my maternity leave.”

Frankie did not know what to say to that. Sure, he had been somewhat aware that Jessica was considered a pretty good forensic accountant. And thanks to him taking the rap for the coke, which honestly had been mostly his anyhow, she would have no issue continuing in her chosen profession. He hadn’t realized she was good enough at it for some English champion on the people, to offer her such a cushy job and be willing to wait the remainder of her pregnancy and another few weeks.

“Frankie, I know you can’t get a license there, especially now that… with the review and all.”

He nodded, sinking back into the chair.

“I’m going to take the position but… while you were visiting your sister in Texas, I’ve been doing some thinking.”

Frankie waited. This was going to be it. She was going to go to England now, have the baby, and he would have to either follow and try to find some kind of work, or accept only seeing his kid when they could arrange for international travel. His eyes watered as he thought about such a thing. Seeing his kid only on holidays, and even then only if he could afford the airfare.

“Frankie, we both know this wasn’t in my plan.”

He nodded, numbly. Several deep breaths doing little to calm his jittery nerves or dry the moisture in his eyes. Jessica paced, her round belly the sole focus of Frankie’s eyes.

“I can’t be a single mother.”

Frankie’s heart stopped.

“What?”

Surely, the woman was not proposing to him? He had offered to marry her. They were both Catholic, even if he hadn’t darkened the door of a Church since his grandfather’s funeral fifteen years ago and Jessica hadn’t attended since she moved out of her parents’ place. She had turned him down flat and cried about her boyfriend breaking up with her after he saw the pregnancy test and did the math to figure out she couldn’t be far enough along with a kid of his, to show up on a test.

“I’m going to have the baby, and I’m taking the job, but… I’m not taking the baby with me. It’s staying here. With you. If you still want the kid?”

Frankie’s brain was going to explode, if his heart didn’t beat his mind to it first.

“What do you mean?”

Jessica let out a long-suffering sigh. Frankie was once more aware that Jessica always did think he was a bit dense.

“Frankie, if I were a little older, married, stable- sure. A kid or two would be nice. I could do dinners and school events, have a sitter who made sure the kids did their homework and got off the buss alright, and a husband to help me raise them. I might consider the family route under those circumstances but not like that. I’m barely 26! I have bigger plans than a little dumpy apartment with a crying baby and an ex-army pilot.”

Frankie barely restrained himself from reminding her that he was former Special Forces, just able to remember that it was a distinction without a difference in her mind.

“If you don’t want the kid, I can make arrangements.”

“No. No!”, Frankie countered, “I want our kid. There aren’t going to be any fucking arrangements.”

She nodded.

“Fine. When this kid is born, I walk out and go to England, you can keep the… kid or whatever. It’ll be up to you, Frank.”

His heart was breaking and his jaw clenching with the effort not to scream. Sure, he knew this was never going to be some ideal situation. This was no Hallmark movie. Jessica wasn’t going to suddenly fall in love with him, get married to him, and raise a growing family with him, in some nice place, with him as a commercial pilot who happened to be a veteran, and her a happy bean counter someplace. He just hadn’t expected to be bringing his child home to a crummy apartment, alone, with his coke charge and the license review all still hanging in the air.

“Fine. I’ll do whatever I gotta do, Jessica. I am not leaving my kid behind. No way. When this kid is born, I will do whatever I gotta do for him or her.”

She nodded. For the first time since they started talking, she looked a little emotional. Honestly, Frankie did not think she was evil or heartless. She was young and this was not what she had signed up for. He was old enough to know better, and hadn’t done better. He should not have been sleeping with some 20-something who was used to nice cars, white tablecloth dinner dates, and guys with MBAs.

“Frankie?”

He looked up at her, meeting her blue gaze.

“I’m sorry it had to go this way.”

He nodded.

“I’ve got it. Don’t worry.”

She nodded, then walked off towards the bedroom. Frankie got up, grabbing the blankets and pillow to make up the sofa. When she moved back in with him, after the nasty break up with the Blond Penthouse Boyfriend, she had taken up the bedroom and Frankie had willingly taken the couch.

Drinks After Benny’s Fight

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia shook his head at Catfish. The man seriously had the worst luck, the worst taste in women, and the worst timing. He was still the best pilot Pope had ever known though. Especially when it came to helicopters in tricky situations and higher altitudes.

Sliding another beer over to Catfish, Pope let out a low whistle. Thankfully, in the small hole in the wall bar, no one paid them any mind. They were another pair of former soldiers, in a dimly lit bar, on a Friday night.

“I had thought you two were… together.”

Frankie nodded.

“I was trying, man. I was trying. But I should have known. She just turned 26 a few weeks before she took the test. Now she’s got this great job opportunity in England and a whole great life there if she takes the job. I can’t blame her.”

“Yeah, except I could offer you a mansion in Italy with 10 million dollars a year pension, and you’d turn it down to keep your kid.”

Frankie shrugged.

“I’m also old and have nothing else to do with my life that I want desperately.”

Pope shook his head. There had been a couple times, especially in the last couple months, when he had been talking to Yovanna, and it had really occurred to him. What Tom had done and Frankie was heading for. Fatherhood. He didn’t expect it would happen, or that anything romantic really, with Yovanna. He might hope, he just didn’t expect. Still, he had considered what it would be like to have a couple little Garcias running around and a woman to share that life with.

“Pope?”

“Yeah?”, he answered as he put his beer back down.

Frankie smiled a little, despite looking like he was halfway to passing out in the chair.

“Looked like you disappeared on me there for a minute.”

“Sorry. Jetlag.”

“Uh-huh. What’s her name?”

“Who?”

“Miss Jetlag.”

Pope smiled, apparently caught. Ironhead and Catfish always were too good at reading him. Benny had always been better at reading Ironhead, naturally, and Tom.

“Yovanna. She’s about 27, scared, trying to save her baby brother. He’s all she’s got now.”

“She’s dancin’ with the devil for her brother. Sounds about right. You always did like the fighters.”

He grinned as he played with the bottle between his hands. His neck was killing him after all the hours flying and driving around, getting the band back together. He felt like he was 90 years old some days. But sitting with a half-unconscious Benny, a worried-hen Will, a half-drunken Tom, and a world-weary Frankie, as they had been drinking and talking about the old days, he had felt like he was 25 again.

“What about you, Frankie? How’d you end up with some bean counter with parents who have a country club membership?”

“Her parents aren’t quite that fancy.”

Pope shrugged as he took another long draw from his bottle, nearly emptying it.

“I think I was fun, a walk on the ‘Lets disappoint mommy and daddy for giggles’ side of things, for her. Then, I was comfortable, just fun enough maybe, and possibly cause she knew I’d always let her in and do what she wanted whenever she showed up at my door. I was a pilot, military guy, too old for her. I ticked some boxes of some sort. And… what guy is going to turn down a hot 25 year old who wants to date him from time to time, to spite her parents and have some laughs?”

Pope nodded. He was just a hair younger than Frankie and Yovanna was just a little older than this Jessica-girl. But he could understand. Tom’s ex, Molly, was only a year younger than Tom, and things hadn’t worked out there either. Will’s most-recent relationship had been with a woman a couple years younger than him, and it went down in a ball of flaming glory by the sounds of it. Perhaps Benny was the smartest of them, avoiding relationships altogether. Pope couldn’t even remember the last time Benny had flirted with someone, let alone taken anyone home or out to dinner.

“Any word on whether it’s a boy or a girl?”

Frankie shook his head.

“I just want the kid to be healthy, brother. Jessica and I… we both did some stupid stuff together right before she broke up and, she admitted she smoked right up until she moved back in with me. She didn’t drink, since she had been trying to cut back on that. She had gained a little weight and figured it was the combination of too much drinking and having quit smoking. So she started smoking again and quit drinking anything that had sugar, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, or carbonation.”

Once more, Pope found himself shaking his head. There had been a couple women over the years, who he thought Frankie might get involved with. Women they met through work, even one nurse at a base they had operated out of for a good while when they all had first been paired up as a team. Right now, he was wishing he had encouraged Frankie a little more towards some of those women.

“Anything you need, Frankie. I’m here for you.”

“Well, I am gonna need a Godfather for the kid, boy or girl.”, he smiled up at Pope.

“And, seeing as you’re the Pope?”

Pope busted out laughing, nearly spitting the first sip of his new beer, into Frankie’s face as Frankie laughed.

“You’re serious?”

Frankie nodded.

“My sister already said she’d be Godmother.”

“I’d be honored.”

Pope and Frankie clinked the necks of their beers before taking long drinks. Pope was genuinely choked up at this. Godfather to the little Morales baby. No one had ever asked him to be something as important as a Best Man before, let alone a Godfather.

“I won’t let you down, Frankie.”

“I know that, brother. I know.”

“Benny and Will are going to kill you when they find out they didn’t make the cut.”

“Benny will just tell me I have to have two more, so he can get one and Will gets the other.”

“No doubt.”

Six Months after South America

Frankie was going to kill Pope. Personally, with his bare hands. They had done enough shit, they did not need to go back to the Andes and grab that last batch of money. They had enough blood on their hands than enough.

“I can’t believe you went back!”, he shouted at his friend.

Pope didn’t back down or even look all that surprised at the reaction. He just stood, letting Frankie get it out of his system on the porch of Frankie’s crappy apartment. Frankie was also ignoring a duffel sitting between their feet.

“Hear me out.”, Pope tried.

“No! No. I am not hearing you out. Tom’s family got my share, Benny’s, yours, and Will’s. We left it. We’re done.”

“Well, not exactly. Benny helped me get this.”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah. Benny and one other guy.”

“Oh, so Will was smart enough to stay out this time. At least someone on this team still has some sense.”

“I didn’t ask him. I needed to keep things small. Three-man team, in and out, no one saw us.”

Frankie ran a hand over a tired face, trying to bring down his blood pressure before he stroked out or struck Pope.

“Who was the third guy, insane enough to undertake this, if it wasn’t me or Will?”

“Kavanaugh.”

“What?”, Frankie asked, half in disbelief and half-hoping he misheard.

“Kavanaugh.”

“As in…?”

“Yeah, me.”, a female voice said as a figure stepped out from the shadows and into the yellow light of the single bulb Frankie had illuminating his front porch.

She stood almost as tall as Frankie’s 5’11 and that was before she strapped on her boots, or her rarely worn high heels. Her skin looked an eerie shade in the gritty yellow light, her normally blood red hair currently hidden under a thin black scarf tied around her head and neck, a pair of pale blue sunglasses turning her green eyes an odd shade of teal. Rose Kavanaugh, one of the government’s best snipers. She wasn’t Special Forces, or even military, though they borrowed her often enough that the whole team knew her well. Frankie had knewn her best, back in the day.

“Hey, Francisco.”

Despite the situation, Frankie smiled.

“Hey, Rosa.”

She smiled up at him. It had been a joke, him calling her Rosa. A reference to a slip he made once, while drunk, after they had a successful mission. Will and Tom had not let him hear the end of it for a couple months after he did it. Rose just smiled whenever he said it.

“She agreed to be our third. She made sure no one sneaked up on us and that we got out safely. Our angel from above.”

Frankie’s anger turned red hot in an instant. Up in Pope’s face, he began yelling, without a care if the neighbors or his son heard him right now.

“You took her out there, knowing what happened last time? What the fuck is wrong with you, Pope?”

Rose was between them in a blink, a hand on each man’s chest, forcing them back away from each other.

“Alright, alright. Ladies, you’re both pretty, calm down.”

She turned to Pope, giving him a Look, before she turned back to Frankie.

“Frankie, I’m a grown woman- you of all people oughtta know that, and I make my own choices.”

Pope found himself snapping his eyes back and forth between his friends. He wondered if he had heard right.Sure, he had often hoped, back in the day, that they would figure things out and get together. It had always been obvious they had a special affection for one another. Frankie had always been very good at looking after Rose and reading her, and Rose had always been especially protective of and responsive to Frank. Yet, as far as Pope ever knew, nothing came of the obvious spark.

“He made me an offer, with a full disclosure about the dangers and the previous attempt. I knew what I was walking into.”

She turned back to Pope, dropping the hand she had on his chest.

“Why don’t you go back to the hotel. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He looked between she and Frank once more, then at her nod, he nodded back, turned, and walked off. As soon as Pope was out of earshot, Rose turned back to Francisco. She took him in. He had been clean shaven and, in his uniform, the last time she saw him. Francisco looked to have put on a couple pounds- though honestly, he needed them. He had looked too gaunt and grim the last she saw of him. The longer hair peaking out from under his ballcap, combined with the facial scruff, did good things for him. The dark circles wouldn’t do though and they worried her.

“Frankie? Frankie, come on. Let’s go inside.”

He looked away from where Pope had disappeared, back to her face, taking a deep breath she felt under the flat of her hand. She almost dropped her hand before she felt his rough, calloused fingers across the back of her palm. For a moment, they just looked at each other. Taking each other in, cataloging the changes. Then, the air was split with a great cry over a radio. Frankie reached for his back pocket, pulling out a cheap baby monitor.

“I gotta check on him.”

She nodded, walking inside, but stopping at the door while Frankie ran back to the bedroom. Rose figured he would be a couple minutes, so she dragged the duffel inside and dropped it by the TV. No sense tempting fate with several million on the porch.

The apartment wasn’t very big. A living room about the size of a mustang, with bars over the windows and ugly curtains she would be willing to bet had been there when Frankie moved in. To the right, there was a small eat-in kitchen with appliances straight from the Dent and Scratch sale, but photos of little baby Morales were on the fridge as well as some takeout menus. Rose looked at the photos, smiling, before she moved further into the kitchen.

Normally, Rose would have stayed waiting where she had been left. Her mama had raised a good southern girl. One did not walk freely in a home one had not been expressly invited into, and one certainly did not riffle around in their host’s things. However, Frankie was her old friend and years ago, they had lived in cots right next to each other. She huffed to herself as she began looking for teabags in his cabinets. She had slept tucked into his side before and he had slept with his head in her lap once. The normal rules of space and sharing were not applicable with she and Frankie.

Finding teabags, she grabbed the measuring cup and heated some water in his microwave. His tea was some offbrand cheap thing she never heard of, but it would do. Goodness knew she had consumed worse when she had been working for the CIA, DEA, DOJ, Army, British Intelligence, and FBI. She got tossed around, borrowed, loaned out, and worked with so many times, she sometimes had trouble recalling just which initials had been on her original ID badge.

Frankie came out a few minutes later, just as Rose was adding a couple spoons of sugar to her tea. The guys might have loved their black coffee and been able to knock themselves back into consciousness with enough caffeine and scalding hot liquid, but Rose had never shared the gift. ADHD meant caffeine had a calming effect on her system and sugar had none, uppers would have done her no good even if she had been tempted, and scalding hot liquids just made her cranky. Lukewarm tea with tons of sugar and enough caffeine to send an elephant into shock, had been a perfect balm to sooth her nerves after a job left her too awake to get any rest.

“He just needed burped.”

She nodded, then pointed to where she had started a fresh pot of coffee for Frankie.

“Thanks. You always did make the best coffee.”

She smiled, following Frankie to the bar stools he had set up by the high-end breakfast bar in his kitchen. He had taken off his hat and under the clearer lights of the kitchen, Rose could see a little gray had taken in Frankie’s dark waves. Back when they were in the middle of war zones, she had always found looking at his face was a wonderful way to clear her head from the usual noise of her whirling mind.

Back then, Tom had often liked talking to her because as a sniper, she had a great view and had to calculated things the way he did. Pope liked plotting strategy with her as well, and even played chess with her a lot of the time when they were between missions. Will and Benny, they had just enjoyed having someone around who was closer to their age and who had a problem with authority but a drive to help people that kept the former in check. But Frankie. There had always been something different about their dynamic. He had been the first one on the team she had talked to, though she technically had been introduced to Pope and Tom first, neither spoke to her before she got stuck guarding Frankie and the chopper while the rest of them had been doing their mission. Turned out she and Frankie both liked puns and corny jokes, so they had told them back and forth to help pass time.

“How the hell did Pope talk you into this?”, Frankie finally asked, his voice ruff and tired.

Rose shrugged, sipping her tea from a chipped mug.

“I’m serious, Rose, how?”

“He needed someone with my skills, and I’m retired. Got booted for punching a superior in the field and disobeying a direct order.”

Frankie’s eyebrows nearly shot past his hairline.

“You always had a bit of a thing about authority figures but… shit Rose, what happened?”

“I was told to not take a shot, thus ensuring a kid would end up someplace he shouldn’t and get blown up. Taking the shot meant risking only the guards and right-hand man of our bad guy getting blown up. I took the shot. Kid lived, the terrorist leader, his right-hand man, and about a dozen of their guards, all blown to bits. Did miss the guy’s little brother, who is also a sadistic crazy. But the kid walked away with no idea how close he came to dying that day. When I got back to HQ, my field commander reemed me out and when he got right in my face, spitting as he explained how I was finished, I decided if I was finished, there was no reason to hold back. So, I punched him. Knocked him flat on his ass.”

“That’ll do it.”, Frankie concurred.

“Yup. Now I’m retired, for all intents and purposes. I think Pope also knew he had to be careful who he asked. I would never tell anyone what happened down in the jungle with you guys, even if I did turn him down. I agreed to help, he cut me in for a share of what we recovered from the side of mountain. And, because I know you would care to know just like Pope, I brought a little prayer candle and said a quick one for that poor burrow.”

Frankie let out a slow breath. Sometimes, silly as it might seem to other people, he dreamed about that whole fiasco and the sound of that donkey as it fell would still be ringing in his ears when he woke. Along with hearing Benny screaming when Tom was killed, or how Will and Benny went at each other just after. Other times, it was images. The kid who shot Tom, laying in a pool of his own blood just a few feet from Tom’s body. Benny’s face when he came in to find Will bleeding on the floor. It was some small comfort to know that Rose had understood he might find even what happened with the donkey, to be upsetting. Among other events during that trip.

“So, you have a little boy?”

Frankie looked up, smiling. He loved that little boy. He also didn’t miss that she had shifted the conversation.

“Antonio, named for my grandfather.”

Rose’s smile blossomed.

“The one who taught you how to fish, and drive stick?”

“One and the same. When I was sitting with him that first night, I just kept thinking about my grandpa. He loved family, especially kids. I mean, I think about him a lot most of the time, but… sitting in that hospital, I just kept wishing he was still here.”

“What happened? I mean, was he born overnight or did they keep him?”

Frankie forced himself to take a deep breath. It was still pretty fresh, and he hated how helpless he had felt his son’s first night in this world. Abandoning the coffee, he went to the fridge for a beer. Since Antonio came home, beer and baby aspirin were the strongest substances in the apartment.

“Jessica went into labor only a few days after we got back from the jungle.”, Frankie started, his mind rushing with images. Tom’s death, the crash, the donkey falling, Jessica’s angry look when he came back, the delivery room doors shutting in his face, little Antonio so small in his incubator or whatever the little bed was called.

“She was angry with me from the time I said I was going with Pope to… She didn’t even call me, she called her cousin to go with her. Her cousin called me, said Jessica was in labor at the hospital and that I should come, since I was taking Antonio home. Jessica told the doctors that as soon as Antonio was born, she wanted the paperwork to sign him over to me and be done, she didn’t want to see him or hold him. The nurse told me she asked if Antonio was healthy. She had smoked for weeks before she realized she was pregnant, so there was some concern about it.”

He looked up, seeing Rose tucked into the shadowy corner of his kitchen, where no one could have gotten a good bead on her through any of the windows. You could take the sniper out of the field but you couldn’t take the sniper out of the girl, apparently.

“The nurses told me, cause Tony was so small and was having some trouble breathing, they wanted to keep him overnight. It was only 4 in the afternoon, but they were sure they needed to keep him overnight. I told them to do whatever they needed for him.”, he let out a long sigh, wishing hard for a real drink. Something to erase the edges of some of his memories.

“Next thing I know, someone in a dressy suit was bringing me paperwork. They needed my family history, what Antonio’s name was going to be, where I lived, my insurance information, and all sorts of things. I’m not even sure what all I read, signed, and initialed. I just kept telling the woman that I’d sign whatever they needed and I’d find a way to pay them for whatever Antonio needed. Then, I just… I went and sat by the nursery area they had him in.”

Frankie looked up, seeing Rose still listening intently. There was a softness in her gaze, even as he could see her filing away information the same as she did during a brief on an upcoming mission.

“There were four other babies in there. It was for the kids who needed to be hooked up to all the monitors. Looked like where they had my grandpa hooked up before he passed away, all these tubes and screens, with nurses and doctors checking on them constantly. And he just looked so small. He just looked… so damn small. They told me I couldn’t go in there, only nurses and doctors, so I waited outside.”

“They let you sit out in the hall all night?”

He nodded.

“A nurse asked if I wanted to go home, and said since I had the wrist band to match Antonio’s, it would be easy to come see him in the morning.”

Rose tilted her head, looking directly into Frankie’s eyes.

“What’d you tell her?”

“I couldn’t leave. I just… I couldn’t. I said I was staying, just in case he needed me. Stupid, I know. What the hell would he have needed me for?”

Rose shook her head, one pale hand reaching to lay on Frankie’s shoulder. He could feel the instant shock of heat from her always-hot hand, seeping through his flannel shirt and Tshirt, deep into his skin. Sometimes he swore the woman had a furnace inside her.

“It’s not stupid Francisco. Of course, you stayed, he’s your world. Nowhere else you would have been except right there.”

Her comment struck him dumb, almost knocking the air from his lungs. She was right. He hadn’t really thought to put it that way. Antonio was his world. His whole world

“I’m sorry I let us fall out of touch, Frankie.”

He looked up, seeing her genuine contrition. Frankie shook his head.

“I could have called.”

“How about we just try not to let that happen again, and call it a day, huh?”

“That works.”

Before either of them could say another word, loud cooing and squealing came over the baby monitor in Frankie’s back pocket. The man sighed as he gazed upward.

“I swear, I think I’ve had about four hours sleep since I brought him home.”

Rose, for her part, looked rather amused. Granted, she wasn’t the one operating on no-sleep and not-enough caffeine.

“Wanna meet him?”

She nodded emphatically before setting her tea aside. Frankie waved for her to come along as he headed back the short hallway to the bedroom. Rose followed close behind. Frank’s bedroom had stark white walls with a spot in the ceiling from an old leak, the carpet was thin in places, the bed was an old metal frame with a mattress that creaked of old springs as Frankie sat on the edge, reaching over into the little wooden crib to get baby Antonio.

Rose watched as Frankie handled the baby with the care she would expect from a bomb technician. He was so different than he had been back in the bad old days, yet much the same. There had always been a gentleness to him that made her question how he ended up in the competitive field of aviation or the brutal work of a special forces soldier. He listened and he cared. Two of her favorite things about him.

“Hey, Tony, Tony. What’s wrong, buddy? Why aren’t you sleeping?”

The baby cooed at him. Dark curls were already formed on his little head, a short, blunt nose like most babies had, and eyes that were a dark shade of blue. Her own brother, who had sported brown eyes for as long as she could recall, had dark blue in his earliest baby pictures. Her own had been more gray than blue, until they shifted to green when she was a little older. Looking between father and son, she could see the similarities in place. The hairline was Frankie’s, attached earlobes, the shape of his brow was close enough that she could guess when puberty hit, he would be Frankie’s clone.

“Antonio, I want you to meet a friend of mine.”, he said before standing back up, positioning his body to allow Tony a clear view of Rose.

“This is Rose Kavanaugh. She ain’t bad for an Irish-girl. Best sniper your dad ever worked with, so don’t think she won’t see you if you try to get away with something.”

Rose snorted. Reaching, she took hold of little Tony’s left hand. It was tiny as it was soft. Giving it a gentle pretense of a handshake, she smiled.

“Hi Tony. I’m Rose. When you get a little older, I’ve got loads of stories to tell you about your daddy and your uncles.”

Frankie smiled, shaking his head.

“Nothing’s sacred.”

She grinned.

“Nope.”

“Just remember, kid, Uncle Pope bribes people to tell it so he looks good, so daddy probably did half what Pope will take credit for.”

Rose snorted, trying to stifle a full bark of laughter. For a while, they stood back in the bedroom, talking to Tony and keeping him entertained, till he finally drifted off. Frankie put the child back to bed, then slipped back to the kitchen with Rose. He poured himself a cup of her coffee and she reheated her tea in the microwave.

“Would it be easier if I had breakfast delivered, or just brought something? I don’t know what your babysitting arrangements are.”

Frankie shook his head, swallowing a large swig of coffee.

“Nah, he’s at that age where I can throw him in his carrier and drag him along anywhere. Besides, we both know you can’t possibly cart enough pancakes here for Pope.”

She snorted into the rim of her mug.

“So true.”

“The man has a problem.”

“Of epic proportions. IHOP may need to be warned anytime he’s in the vicinity.”

“No buttermilk pancake is safe when Pope is in town.”

That earned another snort from Rose.

“Or blueberry pancake, when you’re around. Or really anything with blueberries. You have a blueberry problem, my friend.”

“And you hate fruit, so unless someone makes a really good veggie-pancake, you’re safe.”

“Hey,”, she said as she held her hands up, “someone here has to admit the clear superiority of French Toast over pancakes.”

“Our waitress is going to hate us tomorrow.”, Frank added.

“True, but you and I tip pretty well. Pope is an excellent tipper for a pretty face, so… Do we get Antonio some applesauce or is he still at like, milk-only age?”

“You really don’t know anything about babies, do you?”

“Tiny people, cry a lot, have to have their diapers changed- those ones, right?”

Frankie shook his head, despite the smile wide enough to make his cheeks ache a bit. Rose had always had that effect.

“I missed this.”, he found himself commenting without thinking to.

“Me, too.”, Rose said as she reached, giving his wrist a light squeeze.

“I better get going. You need to get some sleep. I’ll see you at that pancake place, on Third? Usual time?”

“Of course.”, Frank answered, walking her to the door.

“Put that duffel someplace other than the middle of the floor. It only has two in it, the others are in a bank account that is gonna pay you, just like an investment account or a paycheck.”

“How much did you guys recover?”

“About a quarter of the full take. Came out to roughly 13 mill a piece, a little less once Pope gave the fee to his banker.”

“So, we’re each livin’ off a little under 13 million?”

She nodded.

“That’s about the size of it.”

“Pope and I have a lot to talk about in the morning.”

“Frankie, I know you’re mad about a few things with this, but… Y’all did take out a very bad man and his very bad guards, and you took money that would have just started a war among those left behind in the power vacuum. No reason you guys shouldn’t have easier retirements. Benny can have his car, never have to fight again, and live a life that doesn’t require him to have a lot of brains or good sense. Will can settle down someplace, put some of that money out there to do some good in the world, maybe get married to some nurse or somethin’, and have a nice life. Pope’ll probably shack up with that Yovanna girl, or some other beautiful woman half his age, and live in some hacienda or villa someplace. Tom’s family are already taken care of. I’m good. And you can take Antonio and move someplace with a frickin’ yard, get a dog, a ceiling without leak stains, windows without bars on them, and never once worry about being able to pay for a doctor, college, or a car that doesn’t break down every 1,000 miles.”

“You turning that sniper training on me, Kavanaugh?”

She shrugged.

“I killed a lot of people for the Greater Good, or so they told me. It was easier when someone was aiming to kill you or one of the guys, or some poor kid, and I could see the clear path. I killed this person and they didn’t kill this other person. Other days, I killed people and hoped the intel was right and that I was making some kind of impact with what I was doing.”

“Still keeping track of the scale?”, he asked, already guessing the answer. For all Pope’s giving Ironhead crap about keeping count of everything, Frankie knew that Rose was worse.

“Every trigger pull, every shot, every kill, every life I saved, every life I didn’t.”

Frankie moved without stopping to think, pulling Rose into his chest. Her chin rested on his shoulder, her warm arms around his ribs. She molded to him, as if hugging each other were something they did hundreds of times every day.

“I’ve missed you.”, she whispered.

“Sorry.”, he answered.


	2. Building A New Life(Before the Old One Rears Its Ugly Head)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frankie and Tony now live in Hawaii, Benny and Will live on an island chain, Pope in California, and Rose on her own floating home. And just as things are beginning to really fall into place for our team, a dangerous ghost from their past is aiming for revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Injuries from explosions/barb wire/hand to hand combat are described without much detail beyond "looked like he had been dragged through a mile of country road", scars are described in a bit more detail, injured fingers- not broken just swollen from getting cuts in a fight, PTSD messing with Frankie's head, discussion of how former teammates were lost in battlefields, swearing (the F-bomb gets dropped a couple times), a joke about Freddy Kruger, normal parental fears discussed, mild sexual tension.
> 
> Notes: The helicopter movie Rose refers to is FIREBIRDS made in 1990 starring Tommy Lee Jones and Nic Cage. The lyrics of the song are ones I looked up- I've heard the song sung live at a couple events but the lyrics didn't match from singer to singer so I consulted Bing.

Three Months Later

Rose stood at the helm of her boat, double-checking her coordinates and heading. She was aiming to surprise Frankie and little Antonio. They weren’t expecting her and she had only hinted that she might drop by before the paint was dry on the walls of his new house. She and Pope had talked him into buying a new place, back during that pancake breakfast where Pope and Frankie made up. Hawaii hadn’t been what she had in mind, though it made sense.

Frankie loved swimming, almost as much as he loved being in the air. Place was clean, there were no snakes- as Frankie hated them, loads of fresh air, beautiful views, and with his license back in good standing, Frankie could work as a tourist pilot in order to have a cover for some of his money. Rose had heard him on the phone and in their skype sessions. He was happier than she had ever seen him. The sun had done wonders for his complexion, fatherhood had done wonders for the weariness in his voice, and being in the air again had made him lighter. Going to the Andes with Pope and Benny would have been worth it just for the look of Frankie these days.

Once she was sure the boat was fine for her to do so, she left the helm and went check on her precious cargo. The skies had opened up the night before, and she had to scramble to get the piece under cover. It was for Antonio’s new bedroom and she wanted it to be perfect. Seeing that the item in question was still secure and unharmed by the current light mist coming down, she nodded.

Rose returned to her helm, once more double-checking everything. Despite having practically grown up on boats, she had not actually piloted one in quite some time. Especially not one like the one she currently stood at the helm of. The main deck was clear of clutter, needing to be safe for her to move about at night and in inclement weather. Below was a different story. With a main living space 10ft wide and 16ft long, she was able to put a nice couch, a decent flatscreen TV, nice fridge, Tiny House style kitchen, and little wood stove in the space. Another room, 10ft by 10ft, held her custom bed and she had built-in bookshelves with two thin pieces of rope strung across each shelf to ensure her books stayed in place even if her ship were tempest tossed. It was comfortable and compact. A small bathroom fit into what had been a closet before she refurbished the Skylark to suit her.

If someone had pulled her aside, four years ago, to tell her that she would be sailing her own ship to Hawaii in order to hang out with Francisco Morales and his baby son, she would have laughed hard enough to crack a rib. Back then, she was not only still dedicated to the cause of using her skill as a sniper to make the world a safer place with no thought of leaving her scope behind, she also could not have imagined Frankie with a kid and not in a military helicopter. Of course, exactly six years ago, she had been sitting in the back of a helicopter with Frankie’s shirt over her ruined clothes, makeshift bandages covering her right leg from hip to ankle, another covering part of her back, with Frankie trying to keep her awake due to the suspected concussion.

It was hardly the first mission they had been on where the two of them ended up spending a good deal of time talking to each other. The first three they did together, Frankie had to wait for her to tell him to fly in and to give him directions as to where the team were at. Their fourth, he had gotten shot in the shoulder and upper arm on the way in, and Pope left her behind to patch him up since her first aid skills were well beyond Pope’s, Redfly’s, the Millers, or their other two teammates. But six years ago, the mission had gone all kinds of wrong.

It was supposed to be simple. The Millers weren’t involved, as both had been too banged up. Redfly had been in the middle of something he got borrowed for, leaving Pope with only Catfish and Rose as regular teammates. Catfish was to fly them in, dropping Rose near a high point for her to watch over everybody, then Pope and the other two guys were supposed to get inside some high security place to grab three laptops full of intel. Pope and the other two guys ran straight into trouble and there had been someone waiting for Rose when she arrived at the spot Pope had picked out for her in the battle plan.

The short version was that Pope and the other two guys had to lay low for a bit, and had gone to hide in the nearby jungle, cutting radio communication until they were ready to be picked up. Rose had nearly been blown up in the scuffle with those waiting in the trap, but she killed all three men and had limped back to the helicopter because there was no way she could effectively take care of her team in the shape she had been in. Her left hand had been busted up so she couldn’t pull the trigger, her right leg had gotten wrapped in barb wire sometime between the first and second grenades going off, she had ringing in her ears, and she had slammed her back as well as her head when the second grenade went off far too close for comfort. When Frankie saw her, he had been shocked, as her comm had been knocked out leaving him unaware of what had happened to her.

When he dragged her up into the helicopter, which he had covered partially to hide it from overhead observation, he had looked like he wanted to be sick. She had tried to bandage herself with strips of her uniform and undershirt, as well as the small medical kit she carried in the field. When Frankie pulled back her bandages in order to see how bad her right leg was, he had sworn in two languages.

“I know.”, she huffed as she panted for breath with her back against the inside wall of the helicopter, “Looks like I tangled with Freddie Kruger.”

He shook his head.

“Only you could be making movie references right now.”

She had grinned, turning into a teeth-grinding grimace as Frankie peeled back part of her ruined uniform. She could feel his warm fingers working at some of the barb wire she hadn’t been able to get free on her own.

“How’s your head? Dizzy, nauseous?”

She shook her head, working to keep her breathing even and to breathe through the pain.

“Ears ringing a little. Head hurts.”

“Shit, Rose you’re leaving blood on the wall!”, he said as he leaned forward, tipping her slowly forward to rest her head on his shoulder as he looked down at her back. She heard him swear again, in Spanish. At least, she assumed it was swearing. She couldn’t speak a lick of Spanish, though she had learned conversational German as a teenager.

“That bad, huh? Sorry I bled on your chopper.”

He gently guided her back to her former position. The unflappable pilot looked white as a ghost. That wasn’t helping Rose’s blood pressure.

“Frankie?”

“Yeah, yeah. Um… Be right back.”

He moved away and Rose let her eyes close for a second, trying to imagine what her stepdad and uncle were probably cooking on the grill back home, rather than thinking about how much pain she was in. Or how much she wanted a nap. She felt a hand grip her lower arm a bit too tightly, then she was soundly shaken.

“Rose! ROSE!”

She opened her eyes to find a very concerned Frankie, his flightsuit unzipped and tied loosely at his hips to reveal a black Fleetwood Mac T-shirt with a hole near the collar. She smiled. It was a good look for the pilot, made her think of an old Nic Cage helicopter movie.

“What?”

“No sleeping. Not till someone with a medical degree runs some tests and tells me you can sleep, copy?”

“Copy.”

Without another word, Frankie yanked his Tshirt off and handed it to her.

“What?”

“Your shirt is probably as bad off as your uniform. Can’t do anything about the pants, but… once we’ve got your back cleaned, you’re gonna need something.”

“Oh. Thanks.”, she said as she moved the shirt aside, away from her bloodied leg and the bandages Frankie had already discarded.

She looked back over at Frankie, her mind still a little fuzzy after that second grenade sent her flying through a fence of some sort. She had seen Ironhead and Benny shirtless plenty of times, and Pope more than a few times. She had never once seen Frankie in anything less than a Tshirt, uniform pants, and his boots, usually with a hat or bandana on his head. Seeing him shirtless in the middle of the jungle, rifling through the medical kit, was new. Very new. And not a bad sight.

He had a scar on his upper left arm and shoulder, presumably from the time he got shot shortly after they started working together. Unlike Ironhead, who looked like something straight out of Men’s Health’s cover story or Benny’s slimmer yet muscled physique, Frankie had some softness. Clearly, he spent time at the base doing some working out and his build suggested he had been an avid swimmer at some point in life- maybe his teens or pre-teens, with nice shoulders and no chest hair, just a smattering of little scars.

Rose was roughly pulled from her admiration of the view by Frankie bumping her knee with the edge of the medical kit. She hissed between her teeth and Frankie grimaced, offering a quiet apology. Rose waved him off. The next minute, he was handing her a clean hanky.

“Roll that and bite on it, if you need to scream or grit your teeth anymore. Don’t want you to break a tooth of get too much attention on us.”

She nodded, folding up the hanky, just in case. She hoped she wouldn’t need it though she understood. The last thing this team needed was for her to start screaming. Thanks to the grenades and her using the nearby stream to cover her tracks, the odds were decent that the bad guys would think she blew up during the scuffle with their three guys.

For the next half hour, Frankie had worked carefully on her back to clean, bandage, and then wrap up her back, the top half of her shredded uniform top and her undershirt both beyond saving with the sleeves having been used to bandage her leg earlier and the back missing from her impact with the fence. Her bra, by some miracle, had survived mostly intact and then with Frankie’s worm, soft, thin T-shirt over her top half, she felt a bit better. Now, for the leg.

“This isn’t gonna be pleasant, Rose. If I thought we could, I’d wait for the professionals but… I don’t know about leaving barb wire in you till then.”

She shook her head.

“Has to be done. Sorry.”, she muttered.

“Why’re you apologizin’?”

He seemed genuinely bewildered. Rose shrugged one shoulder.

“You shouldn’t have to do this.”

Frankie shook his head, reaching to hold her right hand.

“We’re a team, I got you.”

She nodded, giving his fingers a squeeze before letting him get to his work. Carefully, she put the folded-up hanky in her mouth, grabbed her ruined shirt in her hands, and let out a slow breath. Frankie was as gentle as he could be, yet his hands had been firm and diligent. He removed the bits of barb wire with his fingers or tweezers from the medical kit, he applied the iodine as he cleared a patch, and once he was sure he had removed every piece- double checking with a small flashlight, he began the slow, slightly less agonizing process of bandaging, taping, and wrapping her leg.

By the time he was done, it was pitch black outside and her entire right leg from just above her ankle almost to her underwear line was wrapped, most of her back was covered in stark white bandaging, with only Frankie’s shirt and about two-thirds of her pants still intact. Frankie had even removed her right boot to double check her foot for any signs of swelling, discoloration, or being too cold. All that was left was her left hand. Her dominant hand. Thankfully, her fingers weren’t broken, but the cuts were bad enough that she wouldn’t be pulling a trigger for a spell.

Sitting next to her, Frankie had carefully worked on her fingers with the small amount of iodine and gauze he had left. It was slow going in the dark, using only a glowstick as they couldn’t risk the flashlight now. When he was done, Rose leaned over, resting her forehead against his left shoulder.

“Thank you.”, she said quietly.

“You’re welcome.”

The two of them settled against the back of the cabin, the cold metal of the helicopter feeling good through her bandages. She doubled it felt as good for Frankie, wearing only his flightsuit that had been damp with sweat. Rose carefully reached into her pack and pulled out a small, rough blanket to throw over their legs. The small weight of it hurt her right leg like a mofo, but she didn’t comment. Honestly, she had been bone-weary tired. Tired enough to cry if she’d had the energy.

“You okay?”

“I’m with it enough to figure we needed to start covering up. That’s gotta be a good sign.”

He smiled. She could hear it in the dark. Thankfully, the ringing had subsided enough for her to hear mostly normally again. Gingerly, Frankie moved to put his left arm around her shoulders, moving a bit closer to her. She could feel the warmth of him through the thin T-shirt and she did feel better. It didn’t do anything good for her alertness, however.

“Know any good jokes?”, she asked quietly.

“No. Why?”

“Sleepy.”

He nodded. She could almost see the searching look on his face, despite the darkness that surrounded them, eating up everything.

“What did the vampire say to his shrink?”

“I dunno. What?”, she answered.

In a fake-Transylvanian accent, he answered, “My kids are driving me batty.”

She smiled, a light chuckle escaping her.

“What do you get when you cross a sudden snowstorm with a vampire?”, she asked.

“I don’t know. Count Coolia?”

She almost snorted, despite the pain to her back.

“Frostbite.”

She heard and felt his huff of a laugh.

“What do you call an alligator in a vest?”, she asked.

“Fancy?”

“An investigator.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I’ve got a million of ‘em.”

He leaned a little closer, his mouth only a couple inches from the side of her face.

“I don’t doubt it. If they keep you awake though, I’ll listen to every one of them.”

She nodded, figuring her could feel it even if he couldn’t see it.

“What did the dolphin ask the whale?”

“I don’t know.”

“What is my porpoise?”

She felt him shaking his head.

“That is fucking terrible.”

“I know.”

“Next?”, he asked with a warm tone.

For the next couple hours, she had told more corny jokes and a few punny ones, with Frankie patiently playing along to ensure she stayed awake. Then, just as she was beginning to run low on jokes and was getting foggy enough that Frankie was resorting to tickling her to keep her awake, they heard Pope. He and the other two were ready for extraction and were heading for the helicopter. Frankie had sprung into action.

First, he got Rose up and moved into a chair, buckling her in since her left hand was mostly useless and she was so sluggish that he wasn’t entirely sure she was really awake. Then, he removed the covering from the helicopter and began waking the engine back up. He had just finished when Pope and the other two showed up, climbing in with Rose. For her part, she didn’t remember anything after the first few corny jokes. Pope told her that she had continued telling them, with a very sleepy slur of her tongue while he had kept shaking her and poking her in the ribs to keep her awake till they got back to base.

Rose’s next memory had been waking up in the infirmary hours later, her bandages changed from field dressings to real bandages, Frankie’s shirt gone with a hospital gown in its place, her hand immobilized, her leg elevated, and Frankie asleep in a very uncomfortable chair next to her. She had woken him to talk a bit, with him filling her in on the mission’s success and how long before the doctors would let her be out in the field again. Pope and Benny had popped in minutes later, giving her grief and also pointing out that she had to get better soon so she could come watch their backs since she was the best.

Reaching, Rose rubbed her right thigh a little. The barb wire had left impressive scars as had the stitches to close up the deeper wounds. Most of her scars had healed up, almost as pale as the rest of her skin, just a little shinier with a rougher texture. Not her barb wire scars, which were raised and still a purplish-red with the stitch scars forming paler pink dots alongside the worst of the purple-red scars. Her back, when she looked in a mirror, looked like criss-cross marks of off-white and light brown in varying thickness and lengths. Her trigger and middle left fingers bore a couple scars as thick as pencils and about the color of a pink Crayola crayon. Never again was she half as injured as she had been on that mission.

With Hawaii in sight, Rose smiled. She couldn’t wait for Frankie to see what she had brought with her. If she were truthful, she would say she just couldn’t wait to see Frankie. It had been almost two months since she had laid eyes on him physically and she had missed him. Pope was back in Australia with Yovanna and her little brother nearby, Benny had followed Will to some tropical paradise she couldn’t pronounce the name of, and they had neighboring houses. Will was going to start a little school for the girls in the area where they would be safe, encouraged, and would learn more than to recite the Bible and do some basic math, while Benny had apparently purchased a small fishing boat and intended to spend his days drinking beer and trying to catch fish.

Rose pulled her cellphone out, dialing Frankie’s number from memory. She was probably one of the few people who actually still memorized phone numbers instead of relying entirely on her digital contact list or an old-fashioned phone book. It rang twice before Frankie picked up, little Antonio’s happy babbling in the background.

“Rosa?”

She smiled, almost surprised he had found his phone so quickly. The man was forever losing the damn thing.

“Yeah. Are you home?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m about to pull up into a local harbor and I have a present for Antonio.”

“What?”, he asked, sounded pleasantly confused.

“Hey, if Pope gets all the God Father glory, I get to be Santa.”

She could hear him letting a low chuckle into the receiver.

“Which harbor?”

She looked at the map and tried to sound out the name. She could hear him trying to stifle a laugh as he listened, then corrected her. Once they established where she would anchor, he checked to see how long before he could be there.

“Oh, and Frankie, bring your truck. My present is bigger than a breadbox.”

“You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble, Rose.”

“No, but I wanted to. Don’t argue with me.”

“Argue with a green-eyed, red-headed Irish-woman. Definitely not. I know better.”

“Smart man.”

He scoffed, his usual self-deprecation clearly still intact.

Frankie’s House

Rose looked around and Frankie stared at the new gift she had brought for Tony. It was beautiful. A recently refurbished antique rocking chair done up in pale polish with stenciled hot air balloons rising up the back with musical notes and instruments decorating them, and along each arm musical notes. No, sheet music in full. He studied it closely and could tell it was not stenciled in the same way the hot air balloons had been. It had been done with just as much attention to detail. He would expect no less from a top sniper, however there was just something about it that struck him as more… personal.

Looking back at Rose, he could see the carpenter was at work going through his new home. She reached, seemingly at random to him, checking the sturdiness of walls and railings. It was not a mansion. A simple 2-story house with a nice covered porch on the ground floor and small balcony on the second. Three bedroom- ensuring he had a guest room for Rose, Pope, or the Miller brothers, as well as his sister and her husband if they came to visit. Frank had never had the luxury of being able to offer a full guest room. Usually, he had let his sister have his bed and he would camp on the sofa if she came over.

The ground floor, as he walked it with Rose, had a small entry with a stone floor, a kitchen to the right that lead into a little dining area with lots of windows to allow a lot of light but they were made so there was no space big enough for a person to fit through. To the left was a living room with a very nice TV and overstuffed sofas for he and Tony to watch the game from, and a big cat napper chair for himself. The guest room and a half-bath were on the other side of a little hall, along with a little laundry nook, and a mud room coming off the semi-attached garage as it was more of a car port connecting the garage to the house. Stairs led up to his bedroom with a full bath of his own, then at the end of the hall was a half bath between Tony’s room and the guest room.

“I haven’t painted much yet. I got Tony’s room done. There was a nice blue that reminded me of the sky out here, so I used that. Floor’s hard wood, so I have a rug on order to put down cause you know, kid should learn to crawl on somethin’ softer than sheet metal.”

Rose nodded, her head tilted as she examined the door. It squeaked a bit as she moved it.

“I haven’t gotten that fixed yet. I want it quiet, so I can check on him at night.”

Rose shrugged.

“I’ll fix it tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

She turned to face him, eyebrow arching halfway up her forehead.

“Any other doors like this?”

He nodded.

“Back door, although I kind of like it that way. No one can sneak in.”

She didn’t argue, just gave a single nod before moving to the guest room. It had a nice window with a view of the neighborhood across the street from the house. There were some boxes, mostly stuff Frankie was storing until he got the living room and kitchen painted.

“I figured I could order a bed to put in here, maybe a bookshelf or something. I could leave my books in here, give me some overflow since I’m always buying new ones and I’m sure Tony will have books he needs for school, in the future. A copy of MOBY DICK and the collected works of Shakespeare or something.”

Rose circled the room, her eyes considering. He could almost imagine her painting images in her head of what the room could look like. For all her talk about the mechanics of shooting and her knack for beating Pope at chess, there was definitely an artist in there somewhere. Before Frank could ask her opinion, Tony let out a wail.

“Guess naptime is over. He wants lunch.”

“Same here.”, Rose joked as she fell into step beside Frank.

They had left Tony in his carrier, asleep on the living room couch while they moved the rocking chair in. Frank supposed it had been too much to ask that the kid sleep through the whole tour of the house and garage.

“I’ll fix lunch for us, you take care of the little one.”, Rose offered.

“Deal.”

For the next half hour, Frankie made sure his son ate and got burped while Rose put together some steak and cheese sandwiches that were just a little overcooked with freshly sliced vegetables she hadn’t bothered to sauté, on toasted buns. Sometimes, Frank was amazed she had survived retirement, seeing as no one cooked for her. They moved out onto the porch to eat, Tony sound asleep in a bassinet to the side, cuddling the little kangaroo Pope had brought him before Frank moved.

“Thank you.”

“I burned it, I don’t think you need to thank me.”, she joked before she took another bite of her half-eaten sandwich.

“I meant for the chair, and for the visit. And the midnight conversations when I’m too tired to sleep, after worrying about him.”

Her pale hand moved, laying overtop his forearm, her dark eyes sharply focused on him.

“You never need to thank me for that, Francisco. I’ve got you.”

Retracting her hand, she shrugged.

“Besides, you’re kind of funny when you’re tired. You say very interesting, thoughtful, nay philosophical things.”

“That’s the lack of drugs talking.”

“How’s that going?”

He sensed the seriousness of her tone and took no offense.

“I hadn’t touched anything in months when he was born and nothing since. It was a few times, it was stupid, and I’m damn lucky I didn’t get hooked.”

She nodded, thoughtfully chewing another bite of her meal.

“I’m still trying to figure out if it was you or Pope who got my license issue…”, he gestured as if clearing a bit of smoke.

Rose shrugged and quickly looked out towards the sliver of ocean that could be seen from the one corner of his porch. That answered his question. Neither she or Pope had any kind of poker face when it came to things like this. Frank knew better than try to thank her again, so he changed the subject, telling her how much he had planned for the house and asking about her new little boat. He enjoyed talking about the house and the boat with her, watching her light up as she discussed ideas for the two.

The evening pleasantly passed, even when Tony got fussy and wanted to have a new diaper and to be walked along in the sunshine a bit. Rose had tagged along, a big straw hat, pale yellow long sleeved SPF fisherman’s shirt on, along with thin gray cargo pants, and sandals. She had looked more ready for a trip to take some photos with National Geographic in someplace like Nevada, than walking along the beach in Hawaii. It struck him, she probably avoided the sun with her fair skin, as well as her scars that he had no doubt went down her right leg and along her back.

On nights when his nightmares kept him tossing and turning, waking in a cold sweat with a raw throat from screaming, some of the worst nightmares were based on Tom’s death, the time Benny almost bled out in Will’s arms, and when Rose had stumbled to the helicopter with her leg covered in bloody rags and her back looking like she had been dragged over a mile of bad road. The whole time he had been patching her up that day, he had been praying she didn’t go into shock or that infection hadn’t set in before he could get her back to the base. If not for three guys still being out in the jungle, he would have swept her right back to the nearest medical facility.

The whole time, she had tried to smile and joke, hissing and doing breathing exercises here and there as he cleaned and dressed her wounds, doing her best to keep his spirits up. Sometimes, he thought, it should not have surprised him that she would be the one Pope had known he could call a few months ago when he wanted to get the last quarter of the money and take care of the team. Of course, it would have been her. She could be trusted and she loved them like family. She was their Rose.

Now, he watched as she made fishy faces at Tony to make him giggle, and played with his chubby little baby belly. She seemed so carefree and fun, as if none of those terrible things had happened in places that they could never admit they had been to. Though, when her eyes darkened and her mouth went to a flat line, her body tensing up at certain sounds and topics, he knew that she carried as many scars in her soul as the rest of them. But right now, on this beach, she was just a woman trying to make a baby laugh. She passed Tony back to Frank in order to fix her sandal as she smiled up at Frank. Frank reached out, helping her balance on her one foot in the loose sand.

“You look happy.”, she commented.

“Huh?”

“You look happy. I think fatherhood and Hawaii agree with you.”, she added before standing back on both feet, and walking as if she hadn’t said anything.

Back at the house, Frank put Tony down for another nap and moved to find Rose cleaning up from lunch. She had kicked off the sandals and left her hat somewhere, her sleeves rolled up and shirt unbuttoned to reveal an underarmor shirt beneath that hugged her every curve. He was human. A red-blooded, straight male. There was no way he didn’t notice just how well she filled out that shirt, just as he’d noticed when they were still working together, how well she filled out her combat gear or the simple T-shirt and slacks she wore in their downtime.

In the jungle, six years ago, she had been staring at his chest when he looked up at her a couple times. Back then, he had assumed she was just zoning out due to the blood loss and head trauma. Over the next few years, as they worked together and spent their downtime together, before she simply disappeared one day as she had been reassigned without notice, there had been little things that made him wonder.

The way she reached for his hand when they had been called because Tom had been shot and was in surgery. How she had carded her fingers gently through his hair when he had been recovering from a crash after he had been shot out of the air on a mission with seriously messed up intel, and he had woken screaming. She had let him lay his head in her lap, as it had been just them and the miller brothers- who both somehow slept through his noise in the next tent over, first holding his shoulder and then running her fingers through his hair, over his scalp, as she hummed until he had fallen back to sleep.

Or, when he got the letter that his grandfather had passed, and she found him out back of the tent he, Pope, and Tom had shared, and she had sat beside him, an arm around the small of his back, giving death glares to anyone who came near or looked Frank’s way, letting him quietly cry with his head under his arms, resting on his knees, her hand occasionally rubbing his lower back right where the sore spot always was when he spent too much time in the pilot’s chair.

Now, seeing her in his home, after she sailed with a present for his son all the way to Hawaii, and had spent her whole day with them, he wondered again. Could there have been something there, buried under layers of snark, practiced calm, and easy charm? Could there have been a chance the two of them could be anything but old friends and former teammates?

Frank walked over, taking the dirty plates out of her hands. She seemed surprised as she looked back at him.

“You’re the guest, I’m the host.”

“Ah.”, she said before smiling and letting him have the plates.

He sat them aside in the kitchen and turned back to her. She was thumbing through the cook books he had stacked on the bar. Most of them were things for making sure kids got full, complete, healthy meals that also didn’t require the parents to be trained chefs. Some, however, were more for fun or to get a taste of the local flavor. He had grown up in Texas, so Hawaiian cooking was not something he had a lot of experience with.

“Why Hawaii?”

Looking, he found Rose was still looking at one of the cookbooks.

“What do you mean?”

“Why not go back to Texas, or go to Montana, or up to Canada to have a little ranch? What was it about Hawaii?”

He let out a breath, smiling as he thought about how to phrase it.

“I was here a couple times over the years. Training, getting borrowed, once just for a layover of sorts. It always was… peaceful. I mean, it’s not quiet and dead, there’s just something about it here. Feels like I can breathe here, you know? Not to mention, I can take Tony out swimming in the ocean and the people here are just… there’s a kindness and a sense of community here, and I felt like it would be a good place for Tony to grow up.”

“It’s paradise.”, Rose softly added.

“True.”

She smiled up at him.

“I can picture you two swimming, in years to come, out in the ocean. Going fishing off some little island or just a rocky outcrop someplace, going to local festivals with dancing and music, surfing, hiking high up into the hills or up the mountains. It’ll be a beautiful life.”, an almost wistful look on her face

Leaning on the bar, Frank decided to just ask.

“What’s the music on the chair?”

She snapped her head to look back at him.

“Pardon?”

“That sheet music on the arms of the rocking chair. It isn’t just some stencil you happened to find at Hobby Lobby. What is it?”

Rose sank into the bar chair, letting out a long breath almost as if deflating.

“It’s an old, old lullaby.”

“Uh-huh.”, he said, arms crossed as he waited, sure there was more to the story.

“A Welsh lullaby my grandfather, despite himself being Irish, used to sing to my mom and her siblings. And he used to sing it to me, sometimes as well. Always was one of my favorite things to hear, his rough, kind of raspy voice drawing out such an old tune, his accent growing thicker as he sang. Sometimes, even now, when I can’t sleep or my mind is racing too fast, I stop, close my eyes, and try to remember what it sounded like when he sang that lullaby.”

She picked at her one nail, cleaning imaginary dirt off of it, her eyes avoiding Frank. He was sure of it. She did it whenever topics got personal.

“He was kind, my grandpa, and sweet too. A teddy bear. He was a hard worker, loyal to a fault, honest to a fault, and didn’t know how to let a friend suffer alone. He has always been my measuring stick for people, you know?”

Frank nodded, thinking of his own grandfather and great-grandfather whom he had named Tony for. His grandfather, Anthony, had married Antonio’s only daughter, and their daughter had been Frank’s mother. Antonio passed when Frank was 14, Anthony had passed while Frank was in the service, and his other grandfather, Javier, had passed shortly before Frank’s elder sister was born so neither of them had known him. All the family Tony would have would be Frank’s mother, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces, and Frank’s team. He wouldn’t have the big, boisterous family Frank and his sister had grown up in.

“What’s it called?”

“All Through the Night.”, she answered as she looked up from her nails.

“Would you sing it?”

“Me?”, she asked, pointing at herself.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t sing.”

“You hum plenty, though.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve heard you. When you were cleaning your guns, when you were cleaning your tent space, and when you sat up that night and watched over me after I had been in the crash.”

Her eyes went a bit wide.

“I didn’t realize you heard me, or… remembered.”

Frank leaned a little closer.

“I remember a lot of things.”

She sighed.

“Alright, fine. You get a concert, but you have to close your eyes. I can’t deal with people looking at me when I’m singing.”

Smiling, Frankie obligingly covered his eyes with his palms, smiling as he waited. He could hear her irritated growl. It made him grin a little wider. She hummed a bit, as if either warming up or finding her key, he wasn’t sure. Frank didn’t know much about music, just what he liked listening to and what he didn’t, for the most part. Then, he heard her deeper, soothing contralto as she began.

 _“Sleep my love, and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels God will lend thee, all through the night. Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber steeping. I my loving vigil keeping, all through the night. Angels watching ever round thee, all through the night. In thy slumber close surround thee, all through the night. They should of all fears disarm thee, no forebodings should alarm thee. They will let no peril harm thee, all through the night. Love to thee my thoughts are turning, all through the night. All for thee my heart is yearning, all through the night. Though sad fate our lives may sever, parting will not last forever. There’s a hope that leaves me never all through the night. Sleep my child and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels God will send thee, all through the night. Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber sleeping. I my loving vigil keeping, all through the night_.”

She finished, letting out a small sigh and Frank let his hands drop so he could look at her. Rose seemed a bit antsy in her seat. Frank was in awe. As good as her humming sounded, he never would have guessed just how well she did sing.

“That was beautiful.”, he almost whispered.

She blushed and busied her hands, looking away from him.

“Just don’t ask what key it was in or anything, cause I wouldn’t know.”

“Guess it’s a good thing you kept those pipes hidden.”

She looked back at him, confused. Frank grinned.

“Else we would have called you Songbird and made you sing all the time like you were a walking jukebox.”

That earned him a chuckle as she looked up at him.

“Bad enough y’all made Benny sing. Poor boy. You were gonna make him go mute.”

“He enjoyed it!”

“True. What about you?”

Frank looked up, confused as to her meaning.

“What do you sing to Antonio?”

Waving his hands in a Don’t Shoot motion, he shook his head.

“I don’t sing. I just hum a little and hope he likes the sound of rocks rolling around a busted engine.”

“Uh-huh.”, she answered with a doubtful look.

For a long minute, the two of them just sat there at his breakfast bar, both keeping their hands busy with their nearly-empty mugs. He looked up, watching her for a moment. The day’s sun had gotten no chance to touch her, leaving her as pale as a first-day tourist. Even back in the middle of a war zone, she had always looked like she had just come off the plane from America.

“Frankie?”

She looked up, meeting his gaze. He hoped she had not caught him staring at her cheeks and lips.

“I’m glad Pope called me to come help.”

“I wasn’t at first, but… I’m glad it was you he called.”

Rose smiled up at him, pinkening her cheeks slightly. She downed the last of her tea, setting the mug in the sink.

“Guess I better head back to the boat.”

“Want me to drive you?”

“Nah, Antonio’s asleep in his bed. I’ll call a cab or something. We’re in town, a Lyft ought to be close by.”

“Sorry I don’t have the guest room in good enough shape for an actual guest.”

Rose waved him off as she shook her head, a rueful smile tugging at her lips.

“Don’t worry about it, Frankie. I thought I would drag you out to either a hardware store or someplace with furniture, and I could help you pick out some stuff, and we can get started on some of your projects.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“You got another carpenter on speed dial, who will make sure you don’t buy sub-par materials or that someone doesn’t convince you that you need twice as many boards for a job cause they don’t know about doing things by fours?”

“No.”

“Besides, most of your projects are 3-hand jobs and you’ve only got two, plus you have to take care of Antonio. Consider it a housewarming gift.”

“I’m not going to win this argument, am I?”

She shook her head with a smile.

“Alright, what time should I come pick you up? My neighbor, Leilannee, said I could leave Tony with her sometimes when I needed to make runs to get stuff for the house. So I can leave him with her probably, and we will have a couple hours without needing to find changing tables in the men’s rooms.”

Rose nodded. Frank could tell she hadn’t ever had to think over that issue before. Neither had he, before he became a single father and realized just how few places offered changing areas in men’s restrooms.

“How about 10, then we can shop for what you need, grab Antonio, and you can fix lunch while I get stuff sorted. Then, we can get to building or whatever.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Frankie waited while she pulled up her phone and went through her app. She smiled a minute later, typing something before putting her phone back into a zip-closure pocket in her cargo pants.

“My Lyft will be here in about 8-10 minutes. Pretty good time, considering the hour.”

Checking his watch, he saw that it was nearly midnight. Time really did fly when you were having fun.

“I’ll walk you out.”, he offered.

It seemed the most natural thing in the world to reach over, hooking his arm through hers, linking them as they walked. Of course, Frankie had been told all his life that he was a touchy-sort. Rose had commented on it, back when she first got assigned to Pope’s team.

“It is a beautiful house, Frankie. I’m glad you came out here.”

He looked up at it, thinking of what he saw when he first came to do a walkthrough with the real estate agent. He had pictured Tony, a bit older, playing on the back patio and them riding bikes up and down the street, Christmas decorations in the couple small palm trees in the back yard, Easter egg hunts all around, birthday parties with Tony’s future classmates. He supposed that all parents had those moments.

“I think Tony will grow up good, here.”

Rose leaned closer, bumping her shoulder against his, smiling.

“I know he will. If he’s anything like his papa, he’ll be a good man someday.”

Turning, Frankie opened his mouth to say something only for the Lyft driver to roll into his driveway. Rose flinched at the headlights, despite her probably having clocked him coming before Frank did. Bright lights always did seem to bother her worse than he would have figured.

“Looks like my ride’s here.”

“Yeah.”

“Were you about to say something?”, she asked as she looked back at him.

“I was, but I forget what it was.”

She smiled.

“Well, they say if you turn your head to the right and look up, it’ll roll back into your memory.”

Frank did like she said, waited a beat, then shook his head with a smile.

“Didn’t work.”

Rose chuckled at him, swatting his chest before she started moving towards the Lyft.

“Goodnight, Frankie. Kiss Antonio for me.”

“Will-do.”

“No he won’t, he’s in his own tropical paradise.”

Frank rolled his eyes.

“That joke was old six years ago!”, he called as she opened her Lyft’s door of the little blue Toyota.

“Then why are you smiling?”, she asked before ducking down into the back seat.

Frank watched it drive off, noticing Rose didn’t look back. She never did. He had never thought to ask her about it, only making a mental note that she never actually glanced backwards when leaving social situations. He pulled out his phone, sending her a quick text.

“Let me know when you get back to the boat & when you are locked-in for the night.”

“Aye, Cap’n.”, came her cheeky response.

Frank shook his head, a breathy laugh escaping as he headed back into the house. The dishes would wait. He walked upstairs and into Tony’s bedroom to see his son stretched out in his crib, sound asleep. The crib had been he and his sister’s when they were growing up. Grandpa Anthony had built it himself for them when their mom announced she was expecting Frank’s sister, Maria. Maria had used it for both of her kids, then when Frank said he was coming to Hawaii, she had shipped it to his new address with a note saying it was about time he gave the old thing some use again.

He gently rubbed a hand on Tony’s little chest, feeling his son’s warmth through his onie, the gentle rise and fall of his ribcage with every breath, his little fingers wiggling almost like a dog would do in its sleep. Frankie smiled. He had not ever thought he would have any of this, yet he found himself wanting more. Out with Rose today, he had caught himself imaging her as part of he and Tony’s every day life. He could see her helping him put together some playhouse in the back for Tony, repainting Tony’s room when he got older, swinging on a porch swing with Frankie as they drank their morning caffeine hits, going for walks on the beach all together, teasing with her at night in the kitchen.

Imagining a different kind of life with Rose was nothing new. Frankie had daydreamed about a life with her, back in the bad days of active war. When she had been unconscious in the hospital bed, he had tried to force himself to have the courage to say something to her about his growing feelings. Once she had been awake, she had joked with him, asked about the team, and then both Benny and Pope came in. Frankie couldn’t see any sign she cared any more, or any differently, for him than she did Pope or Benny. That had shut down his hoping for a long time. Until she had stepped out of the shadows on his porch in California, to stop him from clocking Pope.

Frank’s House- Two Years Later

Frank’s blood ran cold, his hand nearly crushing the phone in his grip. Pope had to be wrong. Had to be.

“Frank, you still there?”

‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m here.”, he cleared his throat, trying to tamp down his anger.

“Are you sure?”, he asked Pope.

“Yes. He’s back. And he wants blood. Ours.”

“I thought we wiped that whole group and their founding family, off the planet. How did we miss him?”

“We didn’t, he just is a lucky sonofabitch who survived being shot four times in the chest.”

“That was before we had Rose.”, Frank found himself commenting.

Pope made a grunted noise into the phone.

“No one survives Rose.”

Frank leaned back against the wall. In the past two years, Rose made frequent trips to the Island. She would stay for two or three weeks at a time, then she would sail off into the sunrise and be gone for weeks. Texts, calls, Skype sessions, and old-fashioned post-cards for Tony, all let them know where she was and what she was up to. She had family all over the East Coast all the way up into Canada, plus a few old college friends who lived in Washington State. She made the rounds and did odd jobs she could do from her boat. She always had some trinket or another for Tony when she came back.

“She’s due for a visit soon.”, Frank commented without really thinking.

“Yovanna and I are in California, up in the Napa area. Will and Benny are already on the way. I didn’t know how to get ahold of Benny, so I figured I had to give Will time to go wrangle him up. I half-expected Rose to be with you. She’s there so often.”

“I’ll pack up Tony, and we’ll be there day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll come get you at the airport.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“We’re all in this. And I won’t leave you hanging with my Godson in one hand, your sad bag in the other.”

“Thanks. See you then. I’ll call Rose and tell her we’re going out of town to visit you.”

“She’ll want to come along.”

“I’d rather keep her out of this. So far, this guy only seems to want everyone who was on that mission, which doesn’t include her.”

He heard Pope’s sigh.

“When are you going to tell her you’re in love with her? You’ve been mooning after her for years, man. Years. Just man up and tell her.”

“See you at the airport.”

“Oh, dodging now.”

Frank hung up. He sank backward against the wall, letting out a shaky breath. Then, a crash. Breaking glass. Frank took off running, tearing through the house and onto the back patio. Tony sat on one of the patio chairs, looking worried, while Miss Leilannee and her husband, Beau, were moving to clean up a broken drinking glass from the wood deck.

“Sorry, Frank. Tony started to teeter and when I went to catch him, I knocked my glass over.”, Beau said.

Frank panted, waving that it was okay, as he leaned over. Leilannee came over, her hand gentle on his shoulder and her voice quiet.

“Frank, are you alright? You’re white as a sheet.”

“Sorry, I uh… I got a call from a friend, bad news from home, then I heard the glass. I just panicked.”

She nodded. Miss Leilannee and Beau were aware Frank had been in the service and they seemed to take some of his PTSD type behavior, in stride for the most part. Their daughter was in her early 30s and had served in the Marines. Beau’s father had also been a marine. They knew the invisible damage soldiers came home with.

“Why don’t I make you a glass of tea and you sit with Beau and Tony?”

“Thanks. Um, I gotta pack in a bit. Going to the mainland for a few days.”

She didn’t ask questions, just nodded.

“I’ll come feed your fish.”

“Thanks, Miss Leilannee.”

She smiled a broad, motherly smile.

“I’ll go get that tea. Sit.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Pope and Yovanna’s House- California

Frank sat at the far end of the table, listening as Pope explained how he had learned of what was going on. An old contact of Pope’s from some job Frank hadn’t been party to, had learned of guy they once went after, getting information to another Very Bad Dude. This Very Bad Dude, it turned out, had been someone whose whole family had been involved in terrorism, kidnapping, bomb-making, and war-crimes kind of shit. Their team had been called in to clear the family and their top lieutenants during a big gathering.

Back then, the team had consisted of Tom, Pope, Will, Benny, Frank, and one other guy, Nigel Harrowell. The mission had gone off without a hitch. They had taken out every bad guy they were meant to take out and had gotten out with a few items pointing to details about who these guys dealt with. It had allowed them to find more bad guys who needed dealt with. The particular Very Bad Dude currently hunting them, had been the younger brother of the leading man and Tom had put four bullets in the guy’s chest when they first arrived on the scene.

Now, this guy was after them and he wanted blood for blood. Tom and Nigel were both gone, with Nigel having been killed in action only weeks after the mission coming back to haunt them. He had stepped on a land mine when they were leaving the house they had been sent to raid. Tom had been gone for almost three years now. That had left Benny, Will, Pope, and Frank for Very Bad Dude to get his revenge on.

“Pierce is gunning for us. We can’t afford to let him come find us, we gotta turn this thing around on him.”, Pope finished.

Frank nodded. It wasn’t a bad plan. He didn’t like it, though that hardly made it a bad plan in of itself. Before he could comment, there was a knock at the door. Pope’s phone buzzed with a new text.

“It’s Will.”, Pope commented, “Says he’s at the door and Benny has to pee.”

“Like having another kid around.”, Frank tried to tease.

Pope got up, getting the door to let Will and Benny in. Once the door was shut and locked, Frank turned to see there were three people with Pope, not two. Between Benny and Will stood a short woman with tawny skin and wavy black hair, wearing a heavy jacket and a shiny little diamond on her left ring-finger.

“Hey, Frankie!”, Benny called as he barreled over, wrapping Frank in a bear-hug.

“Alright, gotta piss.”, Benny muttered before walking off, out of the kitchen.

Will rolled his eyes with a put-upon sigh. Frank smiled, moving to hug his friend.

“Good to see you.”

“You, too.”

Stepping back, Will reached to put his hand at the small of the short woman’s back, drawing her to his side.

“This is my fiancé, Diwata. Dee, this is Frankie.”, he gestured and Frankie smiled, offering his hand.

She shook his hand and nodded with a shy smile. Will pointed to Pope.

“This is Santiago, but you can call him Pope.”

She shook Pope’s hand just as Yovanna came in. She and Pope had gotten married a while back and were still figuring out where they wanted to live and what all they would do with their lives now that they weren’t on the run or at someone’s beck and call.

“This is my wife, Yovanna.”, Pope introduced her as he held out his hand to invite Yovanna over.

“Yovanna, this is Diwata. Dee, Yovanna.”

The women smiled a bit more warmly towards each other, shaking hands.

“Alright, I’ve got coffee and chips, let’s get this settled.”

Yovanna turned to Diwata, pointing back to the living room area with her thumb.

“I’ve got Frankie’s son in there with me. Do you wanna go in there and sit, we can have some lemonade or wine, while the boys get their plans laid?”

Diwata nodded.

“Thanks.”

Will leaned, giving her forehead a kiss.

“Won’t be long, I promise.”

Diwata walked off with Yovanna just as Benny came back in.

“Damn, I missed the introductions.”

“I told you not to have that second pot of coffee.”

“It was one fuckin’ cup.”

Frank turned to Pope, who was running a hand through his graying hair as he rolled his eyes. The man had a pretty impressive eyeroll for someone who wasn’t a teenaged girl.

“Children. Fuckin’ children.”, Pope groused.

“Hey, language! We’ve got a kid in the house.”, Yovanna reprimanded as she breezed through with a pitcher of lemonade.

“Sorry, babe. I just…”, he trailed off at her sharp look.

Will and Frank exchanged amused glances while Benny moved to raid the fridge. Pope had just started to lay out his plan for Will when there was a knock at the door. Pope, Will, and Benny all tensed, but Frankie smiled. It wasn’t the business Rap-rap-rap of a cop nor the bang-bang of an irritated neighbor. The familiar rap-rap-rap-Boom had Frankie moving to the door to open it despite Pope, Will, and Benny’s harsh whispers of protest.

There, dressed in solid black from her thin cap and light jacket to her cargo pants and boots, stood Rose. She had blue sunglasses on with a sour expression. Frank noticed there was small duffel by her right foot and what he knew was her rifle on a bag over her left shoulder. He moved to get the bag on the floor and let her step in.

“Rose?”, Pope asked in surprised, “What are you doing here?”

“Someone is gunning for my team and you think I am just going to sit on my ass and let you all get killed?”

She marched into the kitchen as Tony called out, “Who der?”

Rose’s eyes went wide, then she looked over at Frankie. Considering the hour, she must have thought Tony would be in bed.

“He’s in with Yovanna and Dee.”, Will answered for her.

Rose smiled, setting her gun aside and moving towards the living room. Frankie followed her, watching as Tony turned his head to see who had come into the room. His little eyes went wide as did his smile when he spotted Rose. She smiled back at the kid just as brightly.

“Wose! Wose!”, he cried out, hopping onto his chubby toddler legs and rushing towards her.

Frankie smiled, his chest constricting a bit as he watched his son run to Rose. She crouched, her hands ready to catch Tony. She lifted him effortlessly to make him look like he was Superman, soaring through the air.

“It’s the Amazing Antonio!”, she called as she helped him fly for a beat, then she moved him to her hip.

“You been behaving for daddy?”

He nodded enthusiastically.

“Good. I might have to take you for some ice cream later then.”

Tony nestled into her shoulder, his little face almost in the crook of her neck. She rubbed a hand up and down his little back. Frankie was struck by how badly he had missed this and how, in the middle of this messed up situation, he could have it all fall away to pay attention only to these two. He felt Pope beside him, nudging him slightly. Glancing over, he could see Pope basically making a, “TELL HER” face at him.

“Antonio?”

The little boy looked up at Rose, his eyes just now starting to show how tired he had to be.

“Can you do me a favor? Can you go sit with Yovanna and Dee for a bit?”

“Will you tuck me in and tell me a stowy?”

Frankie loved his son’s little oddities in his speech. His sister and Miss Leilannee had assured him that all little kids had them and with practice, grew out of them. They also warned, when kids grew out of them, that you would miss the little patterns you had been familiar with.

“I’ll tell you whatever story you want, Antonio.”

He giggled, moving to wrap his little arms around her neck. She passed him to Yovanna so the other woman could take him into the living room. Dee smiled at the scene, her hand dropping suspiciously towards her lower abdomen. Frankie wondered if Will might have more news than an engagement, to share with them in the near future.

Once Tony was out of the room, Rose turned back to the team. Benny moved to wrap her in a bear hug. She smiled fondly as she returned the hug.

“Fiery Rose.”, he teased.

“Dufus.”, she teased back.

They separated and Benny went back to his beer as Rose moved to sit, Frankie pulling her chair out of habit, before moving back to his own. Pope didn’t miss the gesture and was almost smirking at Frankie.

“Alright, how are we planning to go about this?”, Rose asked.


	3. Good Days (And Bad)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A birthday party, a battle plan, and a day straight out of a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Mentions injuries, fears of scars being seen, old sunburns, mutual pining, getting rid of bad guys, emotional scars.

Frankie’s Home --- Antonio’s First Birthday Party

Frankie and Miss Leilannee worked to make sure the bright blue tablecloth would stay clipped to the picnic table. He and Beau had dragged it over the night before, since Frankie didn’t have enough outdoor furniture for everyone to have a seat. Frankie and Rose had gone out to pick and buy some patio furniture for him, during her second visit to his house. He was glad of it now, seeing Will and Benny entertaining Miss Leilannee’s three granddaughters at the one table, Beau and Pope playing checkers at a second table, and Rose sitting with Yovanna, Miss Leilannee’s daughter Noelani, and Antonio were all walking in the shaded area of the yard.

“Thanks again, Miss Leilannee. I don’t think I could have pulled this off without your help.”

She waved him off.

“You’re alone, especially when Rose isn’t around. No parent can do it all alone.”

Once they had the tablecloth in place, Frankie ran back inside to grab the umbrella that went to the table. Rose had picked a pattern that had the hole perfect for making sure a flag could be used with the table. When he came back, Miss Leilannee and Noelani were getting Antonio set up in his high chair.

Frankie put the umbrella in place, then stood back, half-expecting it to fall back over on him. It didn’t. Miss Leilannee smiled, pointing to the umbrella.

“See, your papa has you covered. Time for cake.”

Benny’s head shot up, looking over to them.

“Did someone say ‘cake’? I heard it.”

Rose playfully rolled her eyes as Will reached, smacking the back of Benny’s head.

“Kids.”, Rose joked.

Frankie went back inside, Rose close behind him.

“What are you getting?”, he asked as he moved to the fridge for the cake.

“My camera.”

“You have a smart phone.”

She shook her head as she rifled through her one bag, pulling out an old, heavy camera. Frankie vaguely recognized the model. His father used to have one like it. The pictures from Frankie’s first trip home after he joined Special Forces, probably had been taken on a close cousin of the camera Rose held.

“Does that thing even work? Did it come from a museum?”, he teased.

“Yeah, I got it right next to your sense of humor.”

“Ouch.”, he joked with a hand over his heart.

“Just get the cake before Benny starts chewing on a table leg.”

Frankie chuckled, ducking down to grab the cake. Technically, there were two cakes. One big one, with all the HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUFF written on it and with more than enough for everyone to get a slice and have another to take home. There was also a little cupcake, with a single candle stuck down in it, for Antonio. He had seen on the internet where some parents did that, so the little kid could have a cupcake to make a mess with or eat, as they pleased, while everyone else could have a cake that was half yellow, half chocolate.

Rose pulled out her lighter, lighting the single candle on the cupcake. She had never smoked but seemingly always had a lighter. Frankie was glad, even as he balanced the big cake on his left arm and held the little birthday cupcake in his right hand. Rose moved out, her camera in hand.

Walking out, Frankie waited till Rose had gotten ahead of him and into position to take photos. Once she was there, she and Miss Leilannee began the singing. Frankie brought out the sheet cake and the little cupcake.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANTONIO!”, everyone sang in unison as they gathered around little Tony. He just seemed amused at all the faces until he noticed the flame of the single candle. At that, he was transfixed.

Yovanna moved to help Frankie get the cake laid down on the side of the umbrella. Then he placed the little cupcake in front of Tony, just slightly out of his reach. He didn’t want to risk the kid touching the candle.

“Make a wish!”, Will called.

“He can’t even talk.”, Benny whispered loudly, earning a backhand across the arm from Pope.

Frankie leaned forward, counting down for everyone, then blowing out the candle for Tony. Miss Leilannee and Noelani lead a cheer for the birthday boy as Frankie removed the candle and slid the cupcake over to Tony. The kid promptly smashed his little face into it. Frankie shook his head, then looked to see Rose taking pictures while biting her lower lip to hold back a laugh. He admired her face for a moment. Rosy cheeks, eyes hidden behind blue aviators, pale hands holding her relic of a camera, as she looked through the viewfinder to get the best shots. He didn’t doubt a sniper would be a good photographer.

Without thinking, he stuck the candle into his mouth to get the icing off of it. He was going to keep the candles, same as his sister did for her daughters’ birthdays, as a little keepsake of those once in a lifetime moments. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud click and a light chuckle.

Looking up, he found Rose’s camera pointed right at him. She was grinning.

“What?”

“You’ve got blue icing in your mustache and a candle sticking out your mouth, I couldn’t resist.”

“Delete it.”

Her grin widened.

“Analogue, Frankie. Doesn’t work that way.”

He growled, more playfully than with any real heat. The rest of the evening had passed mostly in a blur. Maria, his big sister, had beamed in via skype. Snow in her part of the world had prevented them coming to share the birthday party though she promised she, her husband, and the girls would come just as soon as the weather permitted. Rose had commented that it would just make Tony’s birthday last longer that way.

Miss Leilannee and her granddaughters had retired first, followed shortly by her husband Beau and daughter Noelani. Will kept nodding off, so Benny dragged him back to their hotel. Yovanna had similarly dragged Pope off, once he got a bit sleepy, their hotel being just a short ways from the house. Rose came back out to the yard, waving her phone.

“Benny texted, said Will is asleep and snoring. Yovanna texted that they just arrived in the lobby.”

Frankie nodded as he put the last few beer bottles and two of Tony’s baby food jars, into a recycling bin. The birthday boy was sound asleep upstairs in his room, the baby monitor hanging from the back of Frankie’s jeans.

“I think a good day was had by all.”

Frankie nodded. He had really enjoyed the day, despite having toyed with not having a party at all.

“I still can’t believe you and Miss Leilannee talked me into a party for his first birthday. Only other kids here were her grandkids.”

“And Benny.”

Frankie snorted.

“True. I had just figured there wasn’t much point till he was 3 or 4. He won’t remember this.”

Rose held up her camera bag she had been packing up.

“That’s what this is for. Besides, all of us will remember it. And, someday, when he’s a strapping 17-year-old with a cute girlfriend, we can pull these photos out and embarrass him so badly you won’t have to worry about him making you a young grandpa.”

Frankie growled.

“I don’t know which nightmare is worse--- him being a teenager with a girlfriend, or me being a grandfather.”

“You’ll be a good grandpa, besides- today was his first birthday. You have a while before hormones and dating are a concern.”

“Thank everything, cause I can’t deal with that. I’m too old.”

“Um, Frankie, you won’t get any younger.”

He shot her a look.

“Thanks.”

“I’m just saying, older and wiser wins the game. Don’t let him think he’s boss and you’ll be fine.”

He smiled over at her while she rolled up the disposable blue tablecloth. She had arrived first thing in the morning, a gift under her arm, her camera bag over a shoulder, and ready to prep. And all through the day, she had been ping-ponging around, helping, setting up, cleaning up, taking photos, tickling Tony’s ribs, eating with Frankie and the guys, reminding Frankie to stop and take care of himself when she noticed he hadn’t gotten any cake yet, and helping get Will into the cab with Benny.

“Rose?”

She looked up at him, slight circles under her dark eyes, but looking happy.

“Thanks for all the help today.”

Her smile widened a bit.

“I’ve told you, Francisco, you don’t have to thank me.”

“I know. But I want to.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“That’s my line.”

He just chuckled as he passed by her, carrying the recycling back into the kitchen. Rose deposited the rolled, dirty tablecloth into the waste bin, then came over to help him put the birthday presents away. Stuffed animals, a couple educational toys, and a pull-behind that looked like a dolphin swimming along the ground- courtesy of Rose.

Frankie went back into the kitchen, as Rose was tearing down her camera or something of the sort with it. Frankie had never been much on photography. Didn’t much care to have his photo taken, either. He had gotten used to the fact that Rose and Miss Leilannee were shutterbugs who would take whatever pictures they liked, of whomever they pleased, and he got no vote.

He grabbed a mug of tea he had started for her, Irish breakfast with four spoons of sugar, as well as a mug of decafe green tea for himself with some honey squirted into it. Miss Leilannee had turned him onto it, citing how it helped her get good sleep. He wasn’t entirely convinced, though he would take any help he could get.

“I’ll get the photos developed tomorrow in town. Then, I can get you some copies.”, Rose commented as she was putting the canisters into a ziplock bag.

Frankie bumped her with his elbow, then held out the mug of tea to her. She smiled in thanks as she took it. It never failed. First, she would sniff it and her eyes would slide closed as she let out a small hum he doubted she was aware of. Then, she would take a sip and smile the way women did in those chocolate advertisements.

As they moved to sit down, Frankie noticed that Rose seemed a bit more quiet this evening than he had expected. Sure, she still joked with Benny and Pope, and had teased Frankie a bit. He wondered if, like he and the others sometimes went through, she had been having a rough patch with her mental health. Worse nightmares, more frequent mood shifts, flashbacks, things that weighed down on a person.

“Rose, you’d tell me if there was something bothering you, right?”

Her look seemed shocked for a moment before she let her head fall back against the sofa. He waited. They were side by side, which he had done intentionally. People tended to be more open to talking when you weren’t staring straight at them.

“My father reached out last week.”

“What? How? I mean, you always talked about him in the past-tense, I had assumed he was dead.”

She shook her head without raising it from the sofa. Her eyes were dark, the sunglasses long gone, allowing him to see the exact shade of green her irises were. Rose swallowed thickly.

“He took off when I was nine. Honestly, the weird part is, I barely remember him. You’d think nine years, I’d remember more. But I don’t.”

A watery half-laugh escaped her lips as she smiled.

“You know what I remember?”

Frankie shook his head.

“Singing with him. I remember going to get stuff at RadioShack and Lowes, and us singing Reba and Garth Brooks in his old Jeep. My mom sings all the time, but she and I didn’t ever harmonize very well. My dad, he had this really good voice. Could’a made a living with it, I bet. And I remember him pushing me in a swing on a vacation somewhere. It was fall, everything was all orange and decorated for Halloween, and I was in my acid-wash jeans like what my brothers wore, and he was pushing me in the swing. And I remember cutting my knee open once, and him carrying me back up to the house, with me bleeding all over his denim jacket. I had been so upset that I ruined his jacket, but he acted like it didn’t matter, he just wanted me to stop crying.”

Rose shook her head, letting out a slow breath. Frankie knew what she was doing. He’d done enough of it, trying to maintain his composure when talking to his sister on the phone, and topics would stray to things that got him emotional. He tended to cry only when he talked to Rose or Miss Leilannee, a couple times with Pope. Reaching, Frankie held Rose’s hand, giving her an anchor to the Here and Now.

“When I was nine, we went on a trip for mine and my mom’s birthday, combined with a last camping trip for my brothers before school started. Once school started, they didn’t visit as much cause they played sports and stuff, so they didn’t have as many free weekends. We came home the day after my birthday, and I was playing in the living room when I heard the door. It was my dad. He was putting stuff in his white work car. I followed him out, asking why he was putting stuff in the car, since he was supposed to be unpacking the camping gear that was too heavy for me to help him with. He hugged me and told me he was taking a trip and he’d be back soon. That I wasn’t to cry or get upset, cause he wasn’t going to be gone very long. He traveled a lot for work, so I figure he thought I wouldn’t think a thing of it. Except he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. I’d never seen him without it before, that much I remember clearly.”

She shrugged, her face growing more composed, her tone flatter.

“He gave me a kiss on my head, said he loved me, then told me to go back inside and play. Never saw him again.”

Frankie’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t fathom leaving Tony even for a few weeks, let alone driving off and never coming back. He had a hard time leaving him at Miss Leilannee’s for the day, in order to go take care of things for the house.

“What the fuck?”, Frankie muttered.

Rose snorted.

“Probably would have been my words, exactly, had I been permitted to cuss back then.”

“Did he ever say why, or at least tell your mom?”

“He had barely told her that he was leaving when I caught him. She had gone upstairs to pack some of his clothes but he left without them. Every bit of conversation they had after that, was through lawyers. He moved to California for a while, had a job out there as an architect. He married his secretary and took her out there with him, a few days after the divorce was final. They had been seeing each other behind my mom’s back for almost a year.”

Frankie was speechless. He had nothing he could think of to say, besides cursing a streak. How anyone could leave their kid like that was beyond his fathoming. Let alone how anyone could have left Rose behind. He gave her hand a little bit of a squeeze, trying to offer some comfort.

“You said he reached out?”

She nodded.

“He’s in Florida now, married to wife number 5. I don’t know what he wants or why exactly he’s calling me NOW. I had just gotten his voicemail when I got on the boat to come for Tony’s birthday and… I couldn’t make myself call him back.”

Turning to look at Tony, she looked more stirred up than he could remember seeing her since they were in the sand.

“Does that make me some kind of coward?”

“No.”, he said as he shook his head.

“He’s the coward. He left you, he stayed away, didn’t stay in touch, wasn’t there for you. Being reluctant to talk to him, or to hear him out, doesn’t make you any kind of coward. Rose, you faced off war lords and all sorts of monsters without flinching or hesitating. There isn’t a cowardly bone in your whole body.”

“Then why is it so damn hard to just listen to a simple voicemail?”

“Maybe cause there’s still part of you who is standing in that driveway, barely nine years old, trying to make sense of how her world just radically shifted? Or maybe cause, part of you recognizes he doesn’t deserve you time?”

She smiled, her eyes a bit watery.

“It worked out though.”

Frankie arched an eyebrow.

“My mom remarried a couple years later to Ray, and… he has always been amazing. He makes her happy, is always there for her, and he never insisted I call him ‘dad’ or anything like that. He was just… always there. Constant as the tide. A girl couldn’t have asked for a better father-figure than Ray. He taught me to play soccer, he went shooting with me, he would go swimming with me, he taught me to drive, he helped me build stuff, and when I came home all banged up for some R&R he would keep my mom from fussing too much and smothering me, and he’d let me cry on his shoulder sometimes when it was too much but I didn’t want to worry my mom.”

“He does sound like he was a good dad to you.”

She nodded.

“I felt like I was being disloyal the moment I thought about listening to my dad’s voicemail. Like I was throwing Ray out.”

“I don’t think he’d think that for a minute, Rose. Not the man you’ve described over the years. I think, if it gave you some peace, he would want you to listen to the voicemail.”

“You’re right.”

“Do you want to listen to it now? I could sit here with you, in case you need to rant to someone after?”

She chuckled tiredly.

“Nah. I’ll listen in the morning. Ryan Kavanaugh has taken up enough of today. I’d rather continue musing over you as a grandfather and us embaressing Tony in the future with pictures of him faceplanting into a cupcake.”

Frankie chuckled at that, his free hand moving to run his fingers along the back of Rose’s neck, messaging the muscles and tendons there. It was then that he realized, at some point, he had turned to face her on the sofa and her head was now resting against his shoulder with her nose almost against his adam’s apple. For a long minute, neither of them moved except his fingers still working at the nape of her beck and her one finger tracing idle patterns on the thigh of his jeans.

“Frankie?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop worrying.”

He moved his head back to look down at her face.

“What makes you think I’m worrying?”

“You’re a worrier. I know seeing this with me might make you think Tony’s gonna have some kind of breakdown, someday, over his mother. Trust me, while there are going to be times when he wonders about her and why she left, even thinking it was somehow his fault- and he’ll probably hide all of that from you so he doesn’t hurt you, I know I hit a lot of shit from my mom to protect her feelings. But there comes a day when you get this clarity. You realize how lucky you have been. I had my mom, who would move mountains for me. Who always put my happiness and wellbeing first, in all things, and still worries about me even though I’m 31 years old and used to kill people for a living. I have Ray, who has proven time and time again that he couldn’t have loved me more if I were his own blood. I’ve got my brothers who, absent minded and thoughtless as they can be at times, love me something fierce. I’ve got a couple friends I’ve known since I was too young to go to school, who are still my best friends. And now, I’ve got my boys- Pope, Will, Benny, you, and baby Tony who thinks my toys are the coolest things in the world, I’m sure.”

Frankie chuckled at that, glad to see some of her usual bold personality coming back.

“I’ve got a boat outfitted to my tastes, that lets me travel to see all the people I hold dear. I’m free as a pirate and blessed with an abundance of people who love me. Trust me, Tony will have that same clarity, revelation, whatever you wanna call it. He’s got Miss Leilannee and her brood, who all clearly think of you two as family. He’s got Will and Benny, who you know would tear the world in half for him. Pope and Yovanna, who will spoil him rotten at every opportunity and always be there for him. He’s got me. And he’s got a dad who has been there for him every day and night of his life, and who will always be there for him. For crying out loud, you uprooted and moved to Hawaii, you learned to cook, and you stayed up all night with him the first night of his life at that hospital, and all alone. You didn’t have a wife to lean on, to share this with, and yet you’ve never complained, never screamed at him, never done anything except put him first and take care of his every need, while worrying yourself sick that you’re missing something vital he needs. He won’t fail to see it, Frankie.”

He thought about all she had said. He did fear the years to come, when Tony was old enough to ask where his mother was, why she didn’t stay, why she never got in touch with him, why she didn’t love Tony the way his friends’ moms loved them. He even feared Tony would hide it, keep it bottled the way Frankie tended to do, and try to be brave and strong without anyone seeing how much he was hurting inside. But, when he had been worrying just moments ago, it had been about Rose. Seeing a glimpse of some of that pain she had carried quietly without allowing anyone to see it.

“Rose, I”, he was interrupted by the baby monitor as Tony let out an ear-piercing wail.

Rose moved out of Frankie’s arm and shot him a sympathetic look.

“I’ll finish up in the kitchen, you get the little guy.”

He nodded, already walking towards the stairs. He found Tony in his crib, crying on his side, his stuffed kangaroo laying on the floor. It was small enough that, sometimes, it fell through the bars. Never failed to upset him when it did. Frankie picked up the Kangaroo, handing it back to Tony, which made the tears and wailing stop, hiccups taking their place as Tony squeezed the life out of his favorite stuffed animal. Frankie rubbed his son’s little back thymically, attempting to sooth him. He hummed a lullaby for a while, hoping it would work its magic.

Once Tony had fallen back to sleep, wrapped around his kangaroo, Frankie headed back downstairs. Rose had cleaned up the kitchen and taken the trash outside to the bin for the truck later in the week. She was walking back in and heading for her gear on the sofa when Frankie caught her. Her dark circles were twice as bad as they had been earlier and he recognized her tired walk from years of living and working beside each other.

“Rose, please stay?”

Her head jerked up, eyes wide.

“What?”

“I have a guest room, with a fully functional bed, a door, and a short walk from a working bathroom. It’s almost 2AM. You never let me wake Tony to drive you and you won’t get a Lyft out here, at this hour. I’ll even loan you shirt to sleep in, if you want.”

She smiled a little and he was sure there was a hint of blush at the tops of her cheeks.

“I remember the last time I borrowed one of your shirts. Took me almost a week to get it back from the nurses. I still think someone was secretly a FleetwoodMac fan and didn’t want to relinquish the shirt.”

He shrugged with a smile.

“It’s possible. I can’t be the only one with good taste in music.”

She jabbed a finger in his direction.

“Just cause you don’t like Pink or Halsey, doesn’t mean my taste in music is bad. You just don’t like anyone who had their first album hit stores, less than 25 years ago.”

“Well, I am old.”

Rose shook her head as she stepped almost into his personal space.

“Never, Frankie.”

She moved up the stairs, heading for the guest room.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t want you to fall asleep on a back street, halfway to the pier.”

She waved him off as if that were totally impossible. He had found her asleep standing up, in the middle of one of Benny’s fights. He was well aware she could, and would, sleep anywhere.

“Goodnight, see you in the morning, Francisco.”

“Goodnight, Rosa.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Pope and Yovanna’s House, California – Present Day

They were going to head out tonight. That left them a few hours to prepare and to spend in the house. Pope and Yovanna had gone on a quick grocery run while Benny was still sleeping, since he didn’t fly well unlike Will. Rose was doing a last check on her weapons in the guest bedroom, Tony asleep in a carrier beside her. Diwata was up with Will and Frankie in the kitchen. She poured Will a refill on his coffee, then walked off to sit on the back porch with her tea and a book she had brought to read. Frankie waited. Will clearly wanted to talk.

“I guess you noticed the ring?”

“Benny had mentioned you buying it. Pope was betting you would ask before your anniversary, which was coming up soon.”

Will nodded.

“Diwata and I met shortly after I moved. I asked two weeks ago and… I planned for us to fly to Hawaii, with Benny, and to get you, Pope, Yovanna, and Rose together, along with Benny and I’s folks, so I could introduce her to everyone and we could celebrate a little. Already did all that with her family and our friends there, plus Benny.”

Frankie nodded over the rim of his coffee mug. It made sense.

“Then this came up and, I was in the waiting room when I got Pope’s message. My reception is a little spotty back home, and I was so fidgety, I almost broke the phone.”

He could picture it, unflappable Will, getting jittery over worrying about his bride-to-be.

“Waiting room?”, Frankie prompted.

“Yeah. She’d been feeling a little sick at certain smells and had been having some weird cravings, and… well, a bit ago we got a little carried away and didn’t use any protection so… She’s pregnant. I asked her before she even suspected she was, and when she told me later that she thought she might be, I guess she thought I might be disappointed or even angry. But… I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life, Cat.”

Frankie smiled. Even with the shock, and knowing how rocky things were between he and Jess at the time, learning he was going to be a father had filled him with such a happiness just the same.

“Then I got Pope’s voicemail, and a minute later, she walked out with the sonogram picture.”

“They didn’t let you go in?”

“Nah, down there, the doctors are a bit leery of letting husbands in on any of this stuff. She’s already said she wants to have the baby at home, with her mom, her sisters, and her aunt helping her. Her aunt’s the town’s best midwife.”

“Well, if that’s how she wants to do it, just support her man. Let her do it how she feels is best, and just be there.”

“I know with you and Tony’s mother, things weren’t ideal but I figured… well, Benny is a dufus but a good one, he just doesn’t know much about women. Or kids. Pope doesn’t have kids, but you’ve got Tony, so I figured you’d get it, you know?”

He smiled at his blond friend.

“I get it. It’s the scariest, best thing you’ll do. I’ve been surprised at every turn, so just be accepting of the fact that a lot is going to happen, and you’re not going to be able to control much of it, just gotta ride it out. Babies sometimes cry for reasons you never figure out, maybe a belly ache or a growing pain. You can sing to them, hold them, rock them, try to feed them, burp them, everything you can think up, and nothing will work sometimes. Other times, they will stop crying the minute you pick them up. Teething sucks, majorly. So do ear infections. The worst part is you can’t explain it’ll go away soon and you can’t make it stop instantly. But… mornings coming in to see your kid wiggling all happy and bright in their crib, seeing them sleeping soundly in your lap, the way they smile just because you made eye contact with them… there’s nothing like it.”

“I can’t wait.”

Frankie smiled.

“You’ll do well. Have you guys told your families?”

Will nodded.

“Diwata told her mom and aunt right off. They already suspected so it more of a confirmation. I called Benny from the hospital, but he was out fishing so he didn’t get the message till he was pulling back into port. I think he may actually have run all the way back to the house, screaming, hooping, and hollering all the way that he was going to be an uncle. You’d think he was the expectant father, all the excitement.”

Frankie could easily picture it and chuckled. Everything good that came Will’s way, was always vigorously celebrated by Benny.

“He’s got his own girl, these days.”

“Really?”, Frankie asked, “Hadn’t heard that.”

Will nodded.

“Yup. She’s a surfing champ from New Zealand originally. She is based out of Hawaii, so you may start seeing more of my baby brother. Her name is Ataahua, but she goes by Addy. He came to her friend’s rescue when the two were out surfing together and her friend fell off their board and hit his head on the board. Benny happened to see them, and when she called out for help, Benny sailed over and gathered them into his fishing boat and brought them in. She tracked him down a couple days later, to thank him for helping her friend. When she said her friend’s wife would have killed her for getting him almost killed out there, Benny figured out that meant the guy she’d been surfing with wasn’t her fella, so he asked her out for a drink. They’ve been a thing now for about 5 months or so. She travels for competitions, but she always stops in to see him and they are on the phone or internet with each other constantly.”

“Like having a teenager in the house again?”, Frankie teased.

Will groused into his mug as Pope and Yovanna walked back into the house. Yovanna put the groceries away, grabbing some fruit, a knife, and plate, before heading out to sit with Diwata. Frankie suspected Diwata may have already shared her news with the ladies in their group. Pope grabbed a glass of lemonade and moved to sit next to Will.

“So, how did you sleep, Frankie?”

The man simply could not help himself.

“Fine.”

Will looked over, curious. Pope’s eyes were glowing with mischief. Frankie wanted to shoot him. In both legs.

“Well, I mean I’ve got two guest rooms but Benny and Will took the bigger one that has two beds. Frankie and Rose had the smaller guest room, with the single bed.”

“Queen, actually.”, Frankie corrected as he poured himself a third mug of coffee and added just a little milk.

Will looked between his teammates, a bit of a smirk growing across his face.

“Ah, so I take it sharing was in order.”

“Rose insisted. I was just gonna camp out on your couch, out here.”, Frankie gestured to the large, overstuffed leather couch in the living room.

“I almost sent Benny out. Forgot how much he snores when he crashes.”, Will muttered.

Pope elbowed Will, as if reminding him to stay on topic.

“So she insisted you share?”

“Yes, Pope. She insisted I not-sleep on a sofa and threatened to sleep on the floor if I did. I put Tony into his carrier to sleep, since he sleeps pretty well in there. Rose took the bathroom first, to get changed while I took care of Tony, then I hit the head while she got herself situated for the night, and we went to sleep. When I woke up, I got dressed and checked on Tony. Rose woke up, got dressed, and started working on her weapons check while I opted for coffee to finish waking myself up.”

“Guess she wore him out.”, Pope muttered. Will elbowed him with a stern look on his face.

“What?”

“Not cool.”

Frankie pointed at Pope, “Cool it, Pope. We have enough on our plates right now without your stirring the pot.”

Pope held up his hands in a DON’T SHOOT gesture, in time for Yovanna to walk through. She pressed a quick kiss to Pope’s forehead as she left, with two glasses of lemonade in hand. Pope’s face turned serious as he looked back to Frankie.

“Frankie, trust me, having someone who knows the bad and the good of you, and sticks with you anyway, it feels good. Yovanna saw me at my worst, and she’s still here. Rose has definitely seen you at your worst, and you’ve seen her at hers, I’m sure. You both deserve the kind of happiness Will and I have, at least a shot at being happy together. Stop dragging your feet and tell her, brother.”

Frankie shook his head and was about to speak as he heard Tony’s little babbles he did when he was still half-asleep. Looking up, he spotted Rose coming down the hall with Tony clinging to her leg as if trying to stop a giant.

“Anyone here missing a monkey, cause I’ve got one.”, she joked as she moved into the kitchen.

They all smiled or chuckled as they watched Tony squeeze tighter to her leg. Frankie moved over, scooping Tony up and letting him pretend to fly for a minute, before curling his little boy into his chest.

“Want some breakfast, kiddo?”

Tony nodded, his chubby little fingers fisting in Frankie’s faded red shirt.

“How about you?”, he asked Rose. She nodded.

Frankie moved, first putting together some of Tony’s breakfast, then starting on some scrambled eggs and throwing frozen French toast sticks into the toaster while Rose moved to make a fresh pot of coffee. When he needed a fork for the fresh French toast, Rose handed it to him and he passed her the creamer for the mug she was making up for Pope. Will and Pope looked back and forth between them and each other, smirking at what was obvious to them.

Benny walked out a few minutes later, nose first. Will shook his head at his baby brother.

“I smell eggs.”

Frankie pointed to he and Rose’s plates, as well as Pope’s empty plate.

“Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

Will smirked.

“Maybe you should use your phone for more than a paper weight. Set an alarm.”

“Why, when I’ve got you four feet over?”, he asked as he snagged a piece of bacon off Rose’s plate.

Tony wobbled over to him and Benny scooped him up, holding him high.

“You flyin’?”

Tony nodded, smiling wide.

“Just like your papa, huh?”

“Yes!”

Benny brought the kid back to his hip and moved to the stove. As he reached for the pan to make some eggs, Frankie jumped up, stepping between Benny and the stove.

“I won’t let Rose or you near Pope’s stove. We can’t afford a call to the fire department right now.”

Benny grinned as Rose stuck her tongue out.

“Thanks, dad. Don’t forget, I like mine a little runny.”, Benny commented.

“Children.”, Will playfully groused to Pope.

~*~*~*~*~

A Beautiful Field in Hawaii, viewed from horseback - Four months ago

Frankie watched as Rose rode her horse up the little hillside. Noelani and Beau were aways ahead of them. Noelani had suggested the ride, saying that Miss Leilannee didn’t care to ride and Beau wanted Rose and Frankie to see Hawaii ‘the best way you can, when not on the water or in a helicopter’. Rose had been game, despite having never ridden a horse in her life. Frankie had given her a crash course on the drive over, and almost two hours into the ride, she was holding up pretty well.

He followed her up the hill, then brought his horse up alongside hers. She had taken pretty well to directing the horse, though Frankie could tell she was a bit too alert for anything but a newbie.

“You alright?”

She nodded.

“I may not be able to walk straight for a few days when we get back, but I think I’m good. You?”

“I might walk a little funny for a bit, too. Been a long time since I rode.”

“Well, guess soon you’ll be taking Tony out with you to ride. Better get yourself in shape for it.”, she said with a wink.

“Are you saying I’m out of shape?”, he asked with fake-indignation.

“I’m saying your horse-riding-muscles may be a little unaccustomed to four hours in the saddle.”

He nodded.

“Can’t argue against that.”

“You’re hardly out of shape. You can still run up a hill without panting, even in the humidity of Hawaii. And I’ve seen you playing with Noelani’s girls in the yard, and swimming. You ain’t a couch potato shape.”

He patted the little bit of a belly he had as he slouched a little forward, having not been sitting as straight as he ought to when riding.

“I dunno about that.”

She reached, swatting at his belly, making him sit up straight.

“Even if you had a little pot belly, you’d still be in great shape.”

“You’re just being nice.”

“Who wants a guy who looks like he was air-brushed? He’d be hard as a brick to cuddle and watching him eat would make me cry. Who needs washboard abs when you can have pie?”

“Or pizza?”, he teased.

“Hell yes.”

“Hawaiian pizza?”

“Hell no.”

He chuckled. She still hated fruit, especially on pizza. And she also hated bacon on pizza, saying it belonged on a burger or next to a pancake, not on a pizza. Picky eater.

They rode a bit longer before stopping near a small waterfall. Beau had already given them an itinerary for the day. Riding, followed by lunch at the waterfall, perhaps some swimming, then riding home. Miss Leilannee and Rose had packed lunches for them, and Frankie had thrown his swim trunks in and aqua socks, just in case. Once they had the horses settled, Noelani grabbed Rose’s arm.

“Come on, lets get changed. I wanna float for a bit before we eat.”

“Sure.”, Rose said a bit hesitantly.

Frankie watched for a moment, as she walked off with Noelani, a rolled up towel under her arm and Noelani dragging her by the other. Beau came up beside him, nudging him.

“Come on. We can get changed over there.”

“You ever bring Noelani’s girls up here?”, Frankie asked from behind the vegetation he was using as a changing screen.

“Lei and Noel come up here, with the girls, and the five of them swim without me. Today, she wanted to take them with her to a dance-thing. Noelani wanted to ride and come out here with me to give you two the tour. I think she’s enjoying having Rose around a little longer this time.”

“I think everyone is.”

Beau chuckled.

“She certainly seems to be enjoying herself a good deal. Is she thinking of staying more permanently?”

“Not that she’s mentioned.”

“Pity. I think she could like living here. Certainly seems to enjoy her visits.”

Frankie stepped out in his trunks and water shoes, his clothes in a bundle under his arm. Beau stepped out a second later in board shorts and sandals. Beau wasn’t Samoan like Miss Leilannee, as he had moved to Hawaii when he was a teenager. Judging by the accent and his talk of horses, Frankie was pretty sure Beau had grown up in or near Texas.

They walked back over to the water. Beau grabbed a couple beach towels from his one saddle bag, setting them sides atop a dry rock while Frankie checked to make sure his cell, wallet, and car keys were in a waterproof bag.

“You guys ready?”, Noelani shouted out just before she did a canon ball into the center of the pool below the waterfall.

Frankie about had a heart attack. He had no idea how deep the water was or if she could jump far enough, or if there was slippery moss on the rocks she have wiped out on. Noelani surfaced, a huge smile on her face.

“Come on in! Waters great!”

Beau walked around more carefully than his daughter, moving to sit on the shallower end, closer to the falls. Frankie double checked that the horses were tied and his gear stowed, before he began moving towards the water. Thanks to coming to Hawaii and working on the house and his helicopter, as well as taking walks with Tony and Miss Leilannee’s family along the beach, he had ditched most of his Farmer’s Tan, and now sported what Beau had jokingly called a surfer’s tan.

Even with his big sunglasses on, it was still a bright day and the water wasn’t much covered from the sun. With the dark rocks, it was no wonder the water was so warm as he slipped in, not entirely trusting Noelani and Beau not to pretend colder water was toasty warm, in order to make him jump a little. Sitting in the water, he could see all the plants, tiny lizards, and shimmer of the water. It was beautiful.

“I am not jumping in.”, Rose teased as she moved to stand near where Beau had eased into the water. She wore grey ankle-length workout leggings, a dark blue long-sleeved rash-guard with a high collar zipped all the way up, her hair braided back, and a thin neon green bandana tied around her head to cover her forehead and ears. After hearing the story of the only sunburn she ever had, he didn’t blame her for being protective of the tops of her ears. She even wore water socks like his own, but instead of cheap black ones like his, hers were bright green with neon yellow and pink stripes across the tops.

“Girl, you’ll get a heat stroke.”, Beau called.

Noelani waved him off.

“She’s a redhead, dad. Gotta shield herself more than any of the three of us.”

Beau shrugged.

“I do forget. Everyone in my family came from sun-drenched stock, so none of us burned or freckled.”

Rose settled into the middle of the pool, swimming a bit as she smiled.

“My brothers are that way. They inherited our dad’s coloring, except for the eyes. They have pale green like our mom. I got her Irish-deathly pale skintone, red hair, and intolerance to the sun.”

Noelani looked her over.

“Did the dark eyes come from your dad then?”

Rose nodded, leaning back to float a little. She wasn’t very good at it. Even with her impressive chest size, she had too much muscle mass and sank.

“His eyes were a really dark brown. My oldest brother, his are brown, but everyone else’s are green. Mine are as dark as my dad and oldest brother’s, they are just green instead of brown.”

Noelani nodded.

“Sometimes the kids at school used to talk about how I was too pale to be real Samoan or that I talked funny, cause I used expressions I heard from dad. Weird how people can get hung up on that crap.”

Rose nodded in agreement. They all floated a while before Rose and Beau got into trying to dunk each other and Rose sneaked behind Frankie to slash him from behind. Frankie moved, grabbing her around the waist and pinning her so she couldn’t splash him anymore. She wiggled, getting away from him enough to tickle along his exposed ribs, causing him to jerk away, laughing and shaking in the water.

“That was cheating.”, he pretended to admonish her, with a finger pointed in her direction.

Her smile was wholly wicked.

“What’re you gonna do about it, Morales?”

“Oh, you wanna fight?”

“Maybe.”

“Alright, you asked for it.”, he teased before dropping down into the water and disappearing behind some of the seaweed looking underwater foliage. He watched as her feet moved around a little and he dove behind a pillar, waiting. She waded out, seemingly trying to keep an eye out for him. He ducked behind a rock, counting in his head, then springing forward. She wasn’t there. Frankie surfaced quickly, worry rising in his chest, threatening to choke him.

“Rose? Rose? ROSE!”

There was a canon ball called and Noelani dove back into the center. Frankie was about to call out again when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun, finding Rose grinning at him. When their eyes met, her grin fell.

“Frankie?”

He sagged with relief.

“I couldn’t find you and you didn’t answer me.”

She moved closer, her hands on his upper arms.

“I’m not going anywhere, Frankie. I got you.”

Noelani bumped Frankie’s knee as she swam beneath the surface, knocking him off-balance. Luckily, Rose caught him, holding him around his middle and his arms wrapped around her shoulders. They were almost nose to nose as they stood there.

“You alright?”, Rose asked quietly.

Frankie nodded, moving to let her have her space.

“I think we should finish this splash battle, what do you say, Morales? You with me?”

He smiled.

“Always, Kavanaugh.”

She winked, then moved right to flank Noelani.”

A while later, when clothes had been changed, the picnic had, and the ride home concluded, Rose laid out on the floor with her feet up in the sofa. Frankie had come in from the kitchen with some limeaide, to find her with her eyes closed, her cargo pant legs fallen back, and her arms crossed behind her head. It almost looked like some weird yoga thing to his eyes. Except for the scars on her exposed leg, anyone might have taken her for a 25yr old yoga instructor working out ways for people to support their body when doing yoga alone or while injured.

“Frankie?”

“Yeah?”, he asked, afraid she’d managed to catch him staring at her scars, his mind flashing back to her playing cards with Benny, her leg propped up on Will’s cot.

“I’ve got a job that starts in a couple days, so I’m probably going to head out in the morning.”

He nodded, moving to sit on the floor with his back against the same sofa she was using as a leg rest. He put the drinks on the coffee table and let out a long breath.

“I had fun today.”

Rose’s smile was soft.

“Same.”

“I thought you were gonna stick around a bit longer?”

She shrugged.

“Already been here longer than usual. Don’t want to outstay my welcome. Guests and fish are the same, shouldn’t be kept in the house too long.”

“You stay on your boat for the most part.”

“Allows me to stretch out the stay, cause you get little breaks from me.”

He leaned back, letting his head fall into the cushion of the couch. For a minute, neither spoke.

“Beau wants to find you a job to let you stay here.”

“I know. Miss Leilannee warned me he might bring it up today.”

“Did he?”

“Nope. I think when he saw the scars on my leg as I was putting the bug spray on, before we left the waterfall, it kind of freaked him out.”

Frankie could understand that. The scars on his shoulder and upper arm were enough to worry some, or leave them unsure of what, if anything, to say. The barb-wire scars decorating Rose’s right leg would definitely have at least the same effect on a civilian. Even Noelani seemed a bit hesitant to mention them.

“Want to at least have breakfast before you go? Give Tony a chance to say goodbye.”

She smiled, her eyes still closed.

“Of course. Besides, how could I turn down your scrambled eggs and French toast sticks? You’ve got my number and we both know it.”

He chuckled. If only it were that simple. Never had been with him and relationships. Particularly not romantic ones.

“How are your brothers? You hadn’t mentioned them in a while, till today.”

She shrugged.

“Robert’s new wife freaked out when she learned where his scar came from on his side.”

“Where he gave your father the piece of his liver?”

“Yup. He had to tell her the whole story, how our dad took off over twenty years ago and then popped back up, needing us to get tested cause he had liver failure and needed a live-doner transplant cause some medicine he took years back screwed up his liver. Missy about had a stroke, apparently. Robert said it took him almost half an hour to get her to calm down enough for him to explain his reasons for doing it. He wanted to buy our dad a chance to make amends, and to get to know his grandkids.”

Frankie shook his head, a hand drifting over to rest on the couch, his forearm touching her leg. Rose worked to control her response. Earlier, seeing his face when he thought he had lost her, had hit her hard. And the whole afternoon, as they had been swimming and eating, she had to fight not to stare at Frankie’s exposed shoulders and his back. She’d always had a thing for men’s shoulders and backs. It was not as if she had not thought about inappropriate things with her dearest friend. In fact, it was often an issue for her to keep her mind from wandering to things she had no business thinking about.

But standing there in the water with him, she had felt the urge to kiss him. To run her hands over his shoulders and down his back, to bump her nose against his and smile up at him like some stupid Hallmark movie. With previous attempts at relationships, she had always been fairly controlled and never felt strong urges to throw caution to the wind with whomever she was dating. Frankie was the only person who seemed to inspire a desire for more reckless maneuvers.

“Please tell me you’re not planning to call a Lyft?”

“No. They might think I want them to play ambulance, if they see how I’m probably gonna walk.”

She heard a aborted snort of laughter before Frankie stood up.

“Here.”, he offered his arm as she looked up into those deep, warm brown eyes she knew better than her own.

Grabbing his arm, she let him help lift her to her feet. She heard a small cracking noise and Frankie’s face pinched quickly, betraying that the sound had come from one of his joints.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. My back enjoyed the falls, but not the riding. Especially since I wasn’t sitting up the way I knew I should have.”

Rose moved to stand behind him, letting one hand move to his shoulder, her other to the small of his back. Pressing just so, she straightened his back the way Ray taught her to do. He had become a physical therapist, after his years of military service. He thought it was a good thing for her to learn when she expressed interest, so he taught her a few tricks of the trade.

“Wow.”, Frankie half-whispered.

Rose smiled a little. Once she had him straightened, she began using her lower hand to press and message around the small of his back, in about the same place she knew got sore when he spent too many hours in the pilot’s seat of his helicopters. With her upper hand, she used her thumb to rub at the base of his neck and up a little, the slow circles helping to release the tension there.

“Rosa, you could be a masseuse.”

She smiled at the compliment.

“I’ve had it recommended to me as a profession. I don’t like touching people though.”

“Evidence to the contrary.”, he said as he reached, gently holding her one wrist without stopping her ministrations.

“You’re not people.”

“Come again?”

“You’re Frankie. I can touch persons I know and like. I just don’t care to touch people in general.”

“Ah. That makes more sense.”

“Feeling any better?”

“I know what melted butter feels like.”

She snorted.

“Alright, well before you turn into a puddle of liquid butter, I better head out.”

Frankie nodded, aware that if she had kept that up, he probably would have ended up saying or doing something to embarrass himself.

“I thought we agreed you’d stay in my guest room? Any Uber you call now is probably going to be the next headliner on AMERICA’S MOST WANTED.”

Rose grinned over at him.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle myself, against your average creep.”

“Please, Rose? I’ll sleep better knowing you didn’t brave the dark and creepy, to get to your boat, where you’ll walk in alone, at night.”

“I’m too tired to argue.”, she said as she headed upstairs towards the guest room. Frankie watched for a long minute while pretending to take their unfinished drinks and such away.

Once Rose was upstairs and down the hall, he let out a deep breath. Her hands on him, in the privacy of his dimly lit living room, after a long day in each other’s company, had almost been more than he could handle. Rose deserved better than a messed up, ex-military, single father just trying to tread water. She deserved someone younger, more open, less damaged, with less baggage.

Someday, when she found that person, Frankie was going to need Pope or someone to watch Tony for a few days. Frankie would need a few gallons of hard liquor to get through the announcement, the eventual engagement announcement, the wedding, and any subsequent good news about the happy couple. Selfishly, he wished she would see through his guise and announce she shared his feelings. Or, at least, that she didn’t go find that younger, more open, less damaged guy, any time soon.

He finished up in the kitchen, then headed to bed. As usual, he checked on Tony first. He was sound asleep, his stuffed kangaroo tucked tightly to his chest. Frankie heard Rose as she stepped into the hall just outside Tony’s room. She was purposefully making noise to allow Frankie to be aware of her presence rather than startling him.

Frankie walked out, casting one quick look at Tony before pulling the door closed. Rose was in an old T-shirt and cotton sleep pants she had taken to leaving at his place, for when she sometimes stayed over. Her red hair fell loose over her shoulders, her bare feet poking out against the dark wood of his floor. She was beautiful.

“He’s down for the count.”, she teased.

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.”, Frankie said, reaching back to scratch the back of his head. An old tell Pope had warned him about years ago.

Rose stepped closer, leaning forward. Frankie was sure he was dreaming. Rose tilted her head, kissing him gently on the cheek. Then, she stepped away.

“Goodnight, Frankie.”

“Goodnight.”, he barely got out, before she was back in the guest room, the door closing swiftly behind her.


	4. Conclusions (and a New Day)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dealing with their ghosts, what happens next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Spanish is from Bing translate. Carino = Sweetheart.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Mentions PTSD symptoms (nightmares, paranoia, etc.), self-doubt, close quarters, unease of being in hospitals, depictions of people being in hospitals for surgery, trouble waking from anesthesia mentioned.

Florida- a few weeks after Antonio’s First Birthday Party

Rose paced up and down the hallway outside the waiting room, where her father’s latest wife, his coworker, and Rose’s middle sibling, Danny, all waited. Robert, her eldest brother, had opted to go under the knife to save their shared father. That had been the reason for their father’s calls out of nowhere calls.

He needed a liver transplant or he would die. There had been a medicine he had taken, that his body had not reacted well to. One of those one-in-10,000 people taking that treatment, would have this rare, horrible side-effect.

Danny didn’t even bother getting tested. Wouldn’t hear of it. With the age difference, her being female, and the fact that they had incompatible blood types, Rose hadn’t gone for testing either. But not Robert. He marched right off to get tested and _of course_ , he was a match.

Worrying about Robert was killing her. The donor had the worst time of it, in a live-donor liver transplant. She had researched it to the point she felt like she could give a lengthy Ted Talk.

Rose could not bear to think of anything bad happening to her sweet, tender-hearted, loving big brother. He was a giant teddy bear. Their grandfather’s guts. The best of the three of them, in her estimation.

“Ro?”

She turned, at her old nickname. She didn’t care for it but that never stopped Danny or their father from using it.

“What’s up?”, she asked her middle sibling.

“The doctor is heading down to see us.”

She nodded, then followed him in. She distracted herself by studying Danny. It had been almost two years since they had last been in a room together, almost as long since they had talked on the phone.

Danny looked the most like their father. Same eyes, same receding hairline, same nose, same huge dimples. Robert looked like his mom, with her black hair and soft face. Rose was aware she looked like a near perfect blend of their shared father, and her own mom.

Walking with Danny, it struck her how odd it was that he looked so much like their father when he was also the one who had the worst relationship of the three of them. Robert would say it was part of why the two didn’t get along, they saw too much of themselves in each other. Robert hadn’t gotten squat from their dad in personality and Rose had mostly gotten his lack of patience when dealing with people.

They rounded the last corner to find Miranda and the coworker- whose name Rose had forgotten again- still in the waiting area. Miranda was barely 40, a lot older than their father usually went for.

“Rosie, where have you been?”, their latest step-mother shrieked.

“It’s Rose, Miranda. Rose. I was just down the hall.”

The bottle-blonde nodded, moving to stand closer to their father’s coworker as the Doctor walked in. He was a weary-faced man in his late 50s, Rose would guess. Great posture and a fairly good physique made her question if he was a former military man or perhaps a horseback enthusiast.

“Rose, Danny, and Miranda?”

They each raised a hand to indicate who was who.

“Your father, and husband, came through the surgery just fine and we’ve sent him up to Recovery. It’ll be a while before he wakes up.”

“Doctor, what about Robert?”, Rose asked.

“He’s already up in Recovery. We had some trouble with the anesthesia so he’s being very closely monitored. Only one person at a time can visit with him for now. Once he’s fully awake again and we can evaluate him, more people can come in with him.”

Rose stepped forward.

“I want to see him.”

The Doctor nodded. Danny gave her hand a squeeze. The two of them had never been close, but both loved Robert fiercely, even if their relationship was a bit frosty.

“You go take care of him, I’ll get dimwit and dummy to dad.”

She nodded, following the Doctor up to Robert’s room. It wasn’t too far a walk, but far too tense and quiet. Rose wished she had her team with her. She always felt better facing bad situations with her team.

When she finally got to Robert’s room, he was too pale. Robert had always been the healthiest looking of them. Tall, broad, tanned, dark wavy hair, full cheeks, wide smile, always moving. Rose moved, sitting in a chair and reaching for Robert’s large hand.

“Hey big bro. You saved dad.”

She let out a snort.

“Which, I mean, _of course you did_. You’ve always been the self-sacrificing hero, always ready and willing to forgive and offer second chances.”

She let out a sigh. The room was quiet in that there was no living sound. It was deafeningly noisy with the mechanical and electronic noises of the machines that monitored Robert’s vitals. The heart monitor beeped in a steady rhythm, there was a little noise from one machine as her brother’s breathing slowed every fifth breath, a pager went off regularly at the nearby nurses’ station.

“I hate hospitals.”, she whispered to Robert.

“Last time I was in one on this side of the ocean… we were saying goodbye to Grandpa. Then Grandma was gone in weeks. Before that, it was my mom’s episode. Robert, promise me, when you wake up, this’ll be the last time I’m in a fricken’ hospital till I’m here passing out cigars cause you’re a father? You hear me.”

For a while, she didn’t talk. She just sat there, holding his hand, her free hand fiddling with making sure the blanket was covering him, that his hair was out of his face. It wasn’t right for Robert to be so still. He always had been the quietest of them, though he never sat still for long.

“Ro?”

She looked up to find Danny. He seemed to have aged too much since he picked her up this morning.

“Why don’t you head back to the hotel for a bit? I’ll sit with him.”

“I’ll get us some food and be right back. You call me if there’s any change.”

Danny nodded, seeming to have finally figured out not to argue with Rose. He stopped her at the door.

“Rose?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here…. Robert will be happy to see you when he wakes up.”

“He’ll be happy to see us both.”

Danny handed her the keys to his Honda. She wasn’t a fan of Hondas, preferring her old Ford truck or Ray’s old Jeep. However, right now she was too hungry to be picky about her mode of transport towards a drive-thru.

She walked off, heading down to Danny’s car, rolling through their options at this hour. Wendy’s, McDonalds, and the one fish place she couldn’t recall the name of. She would grab herself a salad at Wendy’s and get Danny a McDonald’s burger. He loved a good old cheese burger from McDonalds. Robert had always preferred Burger King and, like her, didn’t put cheese on burgers.

It didn’t take her long to get to the Wendy’s for her salad and then get Danny’s sandwich. She had just paid and was halfway through the parking lot when her phone rang. It was Danny. Rose pulled off into a spot just under a light, answering the phone.

“Danny, what’s wrong?”

“Robert isn’t rousing like they expected and there’s something about his oxygen levels. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but the doctor is worried. They are moving him and we’re not going to be able to sit with him.”

“Okay. Just breathe, Danny. I’ll be back soon.”

No sooner had she hung up with Danny than she found herself dialing a familiar number. A groggy voice answered on the third ring.

“Rosa?”

“Hey Frankie.”

There was a slight pause and she heard the rustling of sheets.

“Rose, what’s wrong?”

“Robert’s surgery went well but… he’s not responding well to the anesthesia and they’ve moved him to where we can’t visit and… I can’t lose him, Frankie. I can’t lose Robert.”

“Rose, Rose- you’re not gonna lose him. Alright? He’s young, healthy, doesn’t smoke, takes care of himself. And he’s got you in his corner. Just let the doctors and nurses take care of him, and it’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry I woke you.”

She felt guilty, as she began calming down a bit. She also realized how crazy an hour it was for him to be answering his phone to a hysterical female.

“After all the times I’ve called you at 2AM when Antonio was sick, teething, sleeping too much, not sleeping enough… I think you’re entitled to calling me a few times in the middle of the night. How is your father?”

“He came through alright, and he’s probably starting to wake up at this point.”

“How’s Danny?”

“Shaken.”

“How are you?”

“Scared shitless. I can fight someone trying to hurt my family. I can’t just shoot this and keep him safe.”

“I know.”

She let out a long sigh.

“Hospitals suck.”

She heard him let out a breathy, almost-chuckle.

“Yeah, usually do.”

“I really am sorry I woke you.”

“I’m not.”

“I went out in Danny’s car to get he and I something to eat. I had just gotten his burger when he called to say they upgraded Robert to a more critical level.”

“Rose, he’ll pull through.”

“Yeah. I keep telling myself that.”

“Do you want to hang up so you can drive to the hospital?”

“Yes, but it was good to hear your voice.”

“Well, turn on the Blu tooth and I’ll talk to you till you get back to the hospital, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Alright. Let me know when it’s on.”

She sat the phone in the passenger seat, next to the bags of food. She switched the Blu Tooth on, and within a minute, Frankie’s voice was filling the speakers of Danny’s car.

“You’re on.”

“Good. Okay, pull out and I will regale you with a tale of Antonio’s latest adventure with Beau and Miss Leilannee.”

Rose smiled, listening as Frankie told her all about little Antionio’s great day and she made the slow, careful drive back to the hospital, navigating streets she didn’t know. When she pulled into the visitor slot at the hospital, she let out long sigh. She felt as if she had been sighing all day like some Jane Austin character.

“You back?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Get the food and get your butt up there, Kavanaugh.”

“Yes, sir.”

She heard a light chuckle before the phone line disconnected. Rose grabbed the food bags, her small backpack with a book and sketchbooks for her to keep herself occupied later, and the rolled-up blanket she would likely be sleeping under in a lobby. Then her phone buzzed.

Rose pulled it out of her pants pocket and flipped through. _Don’t be Danny. Don’t be Danny. Don’t be Danny._ She looked at her new text.

“Rosa – if you need to talk, I’ve got my phone in my back pocket. Day or night. You call, I’ll answer.”

She texted back.

“Thank you, Francisco.”

Rose put her phone away, squared her shoulders, and made her way to the waiting room Danny was in. They would eat, nap, and wait.

Hours later, Robert was awake and talking a bit. He was still groggy and was going to be sore for a while, but he was glad their father was doing well, and that he didn’t wake to Danny and Rose trying to kill each other.

Once the doctors kicked them all out, Rose finally left and went back to her hotel. It had been too far a drive between the dock where her boat was, and the hospital, so she had opted to stay in a room down the hall from Danny at the hotel.

The first order of business had been a long, warm shower, quickly followed by ordering herself a pizza. Large, with all her favorite toppings and light cheese. She had been subsisting off drive-thru salad, peanuts, and cola for two days – she wanted FOOD.

As she waited for the call from the front desk to say her pizza had arrived, Rose found herself fidgeting. And pacing. Then he cell phone vibrated in the thigh pocket of her leggings. It was Frankie.

“How’s Robert?”

Rose pulled up her phone, dialing Frankie’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

“Out of the woods and he woke up for a while to talk. Docs kicked us all out till tomorrow afternoon. How are you and little Antonio?”

“We’re good. He’s playing in the water and sand with Noelani and her girls. I thought I’d ping you and see how you and your brothers were doing.”

“Everyone else has just asked how our father is, with Robert as an after-thought.”

“Fuck ‘em.”

She snorted, even as she was sure Noelani was looking over the kids’ shoulders to give Frankie a Look.

“Did you just use bad language in front of the kids?”

“They can’t hear me over their laughing and the waves.”

“Did Noelani hear you?”

He growled.

“Yes, but she doesn’t count. Moms hear better than spy gear.”

“True.”

“You getting’ dinner, Kavanaugh, or do I need to order something and have it sent to your hotel?”

“Did my mom train you or something? Don’t worry. I’ve got a pizza coming.”

“Good, and no she didn’t train me. It’s a parent-thing. We are master worriers.”

The phone for her room rang, alerting her to her pizza.

“That’ll be the front desk, telling me that it’s pizza time.”

“Alright. Go get your sustenance, and don’t inhale it.”

“You eat too fast ONE TIME and no one ever lets you live it down.”

“You choked, I thought you were gonna die. Benny almost had a coronary.”

“True. Okay. Gonna hang up and go get the pizza. Give Antonio a kiss for me.”

“Will-do.”

“Will-won’t, he’s in another country.”

Frankie rolled his eyes, not-bothering to respond as he hung up the phone. He had worried when Rose said why she was going to Florida. He worried more when he saw she was calling him at 2AM this morning. Now, he could finally breathe a little easier.

Miss Leilannee sat back in the lawn chair next to Frankie, a large frosted glass of something fruity in her hand as she watched the kids. He offered her a smile before turning his gaze back to the kids, his huge sunglasses making it easier to look out at the water.

“Robert pull through alright?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now she can come home soon.”

“This isn’t her home, her boat is.”

“Silly man.”

“Who?”

“You.”

“What?”

Miss Leilannee fixed him with her dark eyes, as if their focus had hooks that held onto his soul.

“You think just cause she wanders, just cause she doesn’t stay here all the time, that the island isn’t her home. It’s home. You’re here, Antonio is here, her heart is here.”

“Her heart is anchored in her boat.”

She blew a raspberry.

“Hardly. She loves the boat, but her heart does not belong to it. There’s a difference. You love your truck, doesn’t make it your home.”

“It was for a while.”, he muttered.

Mis Leilannee looked at him, shocked, her eyes watering as it fully sunk in.

“What? When was this?”

“When I first… got discharged. Couldn’t afford the apartment I barely ever slept in, so I had let it go and had all my stuff in storage. Couldn’t ask my sister to let me couch surf with her, so… Truck was all paid for and legal. I’d just park in the WalMart parking lot and sleep. Lasted a few weeks, till I found a job and got a couple paychecks.”

She reached over, giving his wrist a squeeze.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Frank. I know Noelani is luckier than most, she could and did just come home to us. She let us take care of her till she got her equilibrium back, then she met Taz and they had the girls, and things were perfect for a while till… till Taz passed, and now, she’s found her equilibrium again. You’ve found yours, I think, on the Island.”

He nodded. There was no denying it.

“Let Rose have some time to find hers. It’s waiting for her, right here, when she’s ready.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pope’s Living Room – the Day After Taking Care of Business

Yovanna flipped a pancake while Frankie rocked Antonio against his shoulder and poured coffee into three cups. Frankie was trying really, really, REALLY hard not to think. At all. Just get through the motions.

“Remind me, cream, sugar, or both?”

Frankie shook his head. Black would be good right now.

“Yovanna?”

They both looked up to see Pope hobbling down the hall. He had taken a couple pretty good hits yesterday, and it looked like he was feeling every one of them today. Yovanna moved to help him get into the dining room chair.

“I’m gonna go sit with Di and the boys.”, she said as she took the two lemonades and two coffees out with her on a little tray, leaving Pope and Frankie, plus a sleeping Tony.

“You gonna make it?”, Frankie tried to tease.

Pope waved him off as he carefully adjusted how he was seated. The dining rooms chairs would be easier for him to get out of without help, than the sofa or armchair.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Yovanna’s worried.”

“I don’t blame her. We all look like shit.”

Frankie couldn’t argue that. It had been worse than they expected. The guy had more backup and a trickier set-up than they had anticipated. He had been smart. He still ended up dead. Pope had put a bullet through the guy’s chest and Rose put one through his head. He wasn’t getting back up this time.

It had been rough though, Will got hurt pretty quickly and Benny half-carried him the rest of the way. Pope ended up going mano-et-mano with one goon, only to have the bossman and another goon step in, the three pummeling Pope pretty badly. Frankie had gotten stuck back at the exit point, guarding their ride, with two gunshot wounds to prove how many guys they had faced off with. Rose had kept them covered from above, moving from rooftop to rooftop and even shimmying up a tree at one point.

“How’s the wing?”, Pope asked as he gestured to Frankie’s left shoulder and upper arm.

“They’ll heal. Rose is still a damn good medic. Diwata isn’t bad either.”

Pope nodded. Rose had done most of the patching-up, with a good bit of help from Diwata, as well as Yovanna. Diwata had learned enough at her mother, grandmother, and aunts’ sides to know her way around wound care.

“Daddy?”

He turned to look down at Tony, still sleepily laying against Frankie’s right shoulder.

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Where Rose?”

“She’s still asleep, buddy.”

Tony nodded.

“She nursdid you, Uncle Pope, Uncle Benny, and Uncle Will?”

“Yeah, she nursed us, along with your new aunt Diwata, and Auntie Yovanna.”

Tony nodded his sleepy head, dark curls falling into his eyes. Frankie needed to get the kid a haircut.

“Why did you need nursed?”

Pope and Frankie exchanged a look, neither sure how to explain it.

“Well, there was a very bad man and he wanted to do bad things to people daddy and your uncles care about, so we had to stop the bad man. He hurt us a little, but we stopped him. Now everyone is safe.”

“Where is the bad man?”

“Gone. He’s so far away, he could never come back.”

Tony nodded, eyelids drooping.

“He didn’t hurt Rose?”

“Not much, buddy. She’s alright.”

Tony barely nodded once, then was sound asleep.

“Yovanna said it was hard to get him to sleep while we were gone. He kept thinking he heard one of our cars or someone at the door.”

“Man, he wasn’t supposed to go through that. I didn’t want him knowing what it was like to worry about me.”

“My dad was a mechanic. I worried about him every day after I read an article about getting electrocuted. Even when I understood how hard that would be to have happen at his work, didn’t stop me from worrying.”

Frankie let out a slow breath.

“I think I’ll go join the guys out back. You wanna put him down for a nap and come join us?”

Frankie nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t have his baby monitor anymore. Think Rose will mind me sticking him with her? I don’t want him alone someplace.”

Pope gave him a tired but thoughtful look, a bemused smile tugging at his mouth.

“Frankie, none of us would get mad about you leaving Tony with one of us, right now. I know when we all bedded down last night, I had to keep a hand on Yovanna. I wasn’t scared she was gonna leave, cause if she hasn’t by now I don’t think I’ve got anything left to scare her off with but… I needed her to be close enough that I’d know if she wasn’t there. Will hasn’t taken his hand off of Diwata since we got back, and I’m pretty sure Benny hasn’t let Will out of his sight since he got shot.”

“Okay. I know, I know you’re right.”

“Then go put him down for a nap, double-check that Rose didn’t disappear in the breeze, and come finish your coffee out there with us.”

Frankie nodded, holding Tony close as he stood up. Pope needed a bit of help getting to his feet and Frankie got the back door for him, before heading towards the guest room he, Tony, and Rose had been sleeping in. Tony was still sound asleep, drooling on Frankie’s shoulder, a warm, wet reminder of the Here and Now.

Opening the door, he found the bed empty and nearly panicked. Till he saw Rose standing at the side window of the bedroom, looking out over the back yard and back porch of Yovanna and Pope’s house. Her pistol was close at hand but high enough up that Tony couldn’t have reached it.

“Rose?”

She turned her head, offering a small smile. She had both hands wrapped up from the damage done while climbing around yesterday, as well as a bruise across the side of her face from where a brick wall crumbled under her.

“I’m alright, how’s the little guy?”

“Tuckered out.”

“I’ll watch him if you want to go out back.”

“I thought you’d be asleep.”

She shook her head.

“Nightmares?”

“No more so than usual. I think I just miss my boat. There’s no real breeze here, no ocean noises, no harbor noises. Just horns and the neighbor’s radio.”

Frankie understood that. When you get some rhythm working for you, that helps you sleep and tune out the brain-noise, and it gets taken away – it could be rough. Frankie had gotten used to hearing the ocean, the palm trees in the wind, some light music from Miss Leilannee’s house, and Tony’s babbling. The first night at Pope’s had been rough if only because he had been denied his usual ambient noise.

Carefully, Frankie put Tony in the middle of the bed, arranging some pillows to keep the kid from rolling out. Then, he turned his attention back to Rose. He stood beside her for a moment, watching their team with Yovanna and Diwata.

“I think Will and Di will be happy.”

Frankie smiled. Leave it to Rose to daydream of the future when the rest of them were just trying to stay in the present.

“I think so. Benny will kick his butt if he doesn’t keep her, seeing how happy she makes Will.”

“Yeah. I hope it works out with Benny and his girl. He’s a great guy, he doesn’t deserve to be alone.”

“Will keeps him straight, he can make sure Benny doesn’t screw it up.”

“True.”

Frankie and Rose stood for a moment, just watching. Diwata was sharing the two-person swing with Will, his injured leg propped on a coffee table and an ice pack on his shoulder, his other arm wrapped around Diwata’s shoulders.

Benny was sitting on the railing, one leg wrapped through the pickets, sipping his mug of coffee. Pope and Yovanna were in a pair of matching chairs, Pope’s one hand reaching to hold Yovanna’s between their chairs as they enjoyed their drinks and the company.

“I figure Tony and I will stay another night, make sure everybody’s right, then we’ll head home. Miss Leilannee had been watering the plants and I texted her the day before yesterday just to let her know we were almost done and would be home soon.”

“She really does love you two, doesn’t she?”

“Well, I mean Tony’s pretty loveable and I ain’t too bad.”

Rose nudged him with her elbow.

“I’d say you’re pretty great, but I’m biased. You’ve saved my life a few times.”

He smiled, feeling a slight blush on his cheeks. It was silly, considering he was in his 40s and was standing with one of his oldest, best friends. Someone who had seen him almost naked and whom he had wrapped together with gauze tape and rags.

He felt Rose’s warm hand take his own cooler one, giving his fingers a light squeeze. He could tell her bandages were limiting the movement of her hands, though she wouldn’t ever complain about it.

“You and Tony wanna hitch a ride with me? I was planning to come sit out on your back porch for a couple days, and let Miss Leilannee see that we’re alive and alright.”

“If you don’t mind us cramping your boho pirate style.”

She snorted, her face split wide with a smile.

“Hardly. Y’all can have permission to come aboard any time.”

“Good. Come on, what do you say we scoop up the kid and go sit with all the rest of this group of crazies?”

“You grab the kid, I’ll grab the drinks.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rose’s Ship – the Next Day

Frankie smiled, watching as Tony enjoyed the view through a window, while seated in a corner hammock Rose had tied up for him last year. It kept him somewhat swaddled, safely tucked in a corner, able to see for miles without Frankie having to fear the kid falling overboard.

Rose was at the helm, a pleasant smile on her face as she steered a course for home. Frankie let out a breath as Miss Leilannee’s words, from almost three years ago, echoed in his head.

Stepping forward, he came to stand next to Rose. It looked like the entire ocean was open before them. Frankie was reminded of dreams he had as a kid, of piracy on the high seas. And of flying. Something about being out on the water always made him think of flying.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“They aren’t worth that much.”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

He smiled as a wave caused the boat to bounce a little. Frankie reached, catching one of the rails by the helm. Rose was unfazed until she realized Frankie’s one hand was on the small of her back, as if to help keep her in place. Frankie noticed how shy she got and the blush rising on her pale cheeks.

“Sorry.”, Frankie whispered, dropping his hand and his gaze.

“It’s alright. First time that happened, when I went sailing with Ray, I took his feet out from under him.”

Frankie could picture it fairly easily. Rose, a couple decades younger with the mountain that was her stepdad, probably scared until her stepdad busted out laughing. The man was fairly unflappable and he dearly loved Rose.

“Did he laugh?”

“Hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.”

“Figured he did.”

“Frankie, are you trying to avoid talking about the tangle we woke up in this morning?”

“Maybe.”

“We were sharing a bed, after a pretty horrific couple days. It wasn’t like we made a conscious decision to gets handsy with each other.”

He considered that a moment.

“It was more than that. At least for me.”

Rose glanced over at him, before adjusting something on her helm. She remained silent and taught as a pulled bowstring, arrow notched and ready.

“I didn’t want to risk letting you or Antonio out of my sight and… sure, I’m a bit raw from what we had to do, especially when that wall fell and I thought… But Rose, it wasn’t just that we were raw and were two warm, close at hand bodies.”

Frankie walked off, going back to stand with Antonio and watch for whales. He was not sure he was ready for this conversation, especially not in a place where Rose couldn’t walk away or send him off if she didn’t wish to speak any further on the subject.

For the duration of the voyage, Frankie and Rose barely talked. Antonio seemed to notice but did not mention it, just snuggled into Frankie’s shoulder all the more tightly. It was a quiet trip.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frankie’s House – Later the Same Day

Miss Leilannee’s stare was inescapable. Frankie didn’t bother dodging, just turned Tony loose with Noelani’s girls and let out a slow breath. The calm before the storm.

“Frank Morales, are you insane?”

“There has been some debate about my sanity, over the years.”, he tried, as he turned to face the short, angry woman.

“I don’t know what you did, but Rose is currently sitting in my living room with Beau and Noelani, avoiding you. What did you do?”

“I started a conversation and it seemed like I had insulted her in some way, so I tried giving her space. I screwed up.”

Miss Leilannee pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes for a moment. Then nodded, her face the picture of a woman with a plan.

“What are you up to?”

“Don’t worry about it, but when she comes back, do NOT screw it up.”, she said with a perfectly manicured fingernail pointed at him. Aimed, really.

“Yes ma’am.”

That said, she walked off clearly a Woman With A Mission. Frankie figured it was better not to ask. He had bags to unpack and laundry to start. Checking on Tony one last time, Frankie went back into the house and started on his To Do list.

Noelanie and her daughters had asked to borrow Tony for a little while to get ice cream and watch the whales off one of Noelani’s favorite spots, so Frankie gave his permission and slipped her some cash for Tony’s ice cream. It was nice to have the house to himself for a little while, without worrying too much about Antonio. It gave him some space to think.

“Frankie?”

Rose. Turning, he headed down the stairs to find her waiting in the middle of his living room. She was likely the only person who could sneak into his house, and not just because snipers were almost ninjas, but she knew where every creaking door and floorboard were to get around without alerting him.

She didn’t look as angry or churned up as she had earlier when she disappeared to Leilannee’s house. Now she just looked a little lost. Frankie moved to meet her in the middle of his living room, noticing her fidgeting with her watch. One of her few tells.

“You started to say something, on the boat, and then you never finished.”

He nodded, stepping closer and rubbing the back of his head. Without his hat, he had little to occupy his hands.

“I wasn’t just reaching out cause you were a warm body and I was in a bad headspace, Rosa. I wouldn’t use you that way.”

“I know it.”

“I was reaching out because I needed to know _you_ were there. Not just safe, but right there, within arm’s reach.”

She eyed him, as if looking for something. Part of him prayed she found it, part of him was scared she would find the thing that sent her running.

“I know I gave you guys all a scare, when the wall fell and my radio cut out for a minute.”

“Not that I didn’t have a small heart attack over that, but no, Rose, that wasn’t it. Well, not all of it. Remember, the last time you were here, after the ride to the falls, when you adjusted my back and then stayed the night?”

She nodded, her eyes never leaving his face.

“I almost said something that night, and about a hundred times before that night. You’re not just my teammate, not just my best friend, Rose. I think I fell in love with you over dozens of helicopter rides, card games, corny jokes, and campfire conversations and then I lost you. And you came back, and I have been too much of a chicken shit to just tell you.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed a bit, almost as if she were confused. Frankie felt like his heart was going to hammer its way out of his ribcage and his stomach was doing erratic summersaults.

“You’ve been avoiding me the whole ride home because you thought what, that I’d throw rocks at you for telling me this?”

“I didn’t think it was fair to unload this on you when you had no escape. We were on a boat, where would you go if you didn’t want to hear this?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to hear the truth, Francisco?”, she asked as she took a step closer, their bodies barely a foot apart now.

“I’m damaged goods, Rosa. You deserve so much more.”

“More?”

“You deserve someone your own age, who doesn’t have all my baggage. Someone who can give you a real life, not some washed up ex-military vet, barely treading water.”

“You think I deserve better than the best man I know? The man who would do anything for his team, who stayed up all night with his son when his son was born with health issues- just in case he needed you? Who told corny jokes back and forth with me for hours, literally gave me the shirt off his back, and bandaged me while trying to afford me some privacy, in the middle of a stinkin’ jungle? The man who has always been there whenever I, or any of his friends, ever needed him? Frankie, I couldn’t possibly ask for more than you. There isn’t anything better than you.”

“I just…”, he didn’t know how to respond to her estimation of him.

Rose closed the gap between them, reaching to cup a warm hand around Frankie’s cheek, her wide thumb rubbing across the apple of his cheek. He looked into those dark green eyes he knew so well, the eyes that greeted him in countless dreams.

“Francisco Morales, I have loved you for years, and I’ve also been too chicken shit to just come off and tell you.”

“Why?”

“Scared. I was always moving around, then I was gone and couldn’t contact you guys for so, so long. And when I came back, you had just had Tony and were trying to adjust to life as a new, single dad, and I thought dumping me and my crap onto you was too much to ask. So I resolved to be your friend, to try to help take care of you. Then, it was comfortable. I could come and be with you, and Tony, then Miss Leilannee and her brood. And whenever I got too close to saying something to give away how I felt, I could hop on my boat and go see Robert or my mom and Ray. You and Tony would always be here, waiting when I got back, none the wiser. I could enjoy a life with you guys without worrying about you ever getting awkward when you had to tell me you didn’t share my feelings.”

“Why would you ever think I wouldn’t share them?”

He was genuinely bewildered at that and had to know.

“I’ve never managed to get a third date with someone, why would I expect anyone who knew me even half so well as you, would want what I had to offer?”

“A heart of gold, a protective streak ten miles wide, an Irish temper, a brain full of big words and bigger concepts, and a gift for making people laugh? Sounds terrible.”

She swatted him, smiling a bit despite the seriousness of their conversation.

“The nightmares, the paranoia, the wanderlust, the spooky sniper habits.”

“Aside from the sniper habits, preaching to the choir here.”

“I know, I know.”

She shook her head as if to dispel something. Frankie reached, catching her hands in his and tugging her back closer again.

“I love you, Rose. And if you need to keep setting sail and going off, that’s fine. I won’t stop you. I’d never clip your wings, Rose. Never. But I do want you to know that you’ve always got a home here, with us.”

“Home?”

“If you want it.”

“How long would you want me to stay?”

He smiled.

“Carino, I’d keep you forever if it were up to me. But like I said, I’d never stand in your way if you need to roam.”

“And what if I wanted to stay almost all the time, just take some trips to see my brothers from time to time, or my one friend who lives up in Washington state?”

Frankie leaned, pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

“You’re always welcome, every day you want to be here, in our home, Rosa. Always.”

“Guess I should get some change of address cards then.”

“I wish you would.”

“Wish granted.”, she said before leaning forward, kissing Frankie.

His hands stilled at first, then found purchase at the swell of her hips, her hands moving to tangle the fingers of one hand in his hair and the other splayed over the center of his back. Frankie could not believe this. After all these years, he was finally kissing Rose and she was kissing him, and admitting she loved him too, that she wanted to stay with he and Antonio.

They broke for air, gasping for breath and they both looked at each other with goofy, stupid grins. Frankie was beyond cloud nine. He was almost delirious.

“I’m sorry I didn’t do any of that sooner.”

She shook her head.

“I don’t think we would have been ready. Now, we both each know what we want.”

“I want you. Forever, for as long as you’ll have me.”

“Forever works.”, she said as her smile widened.

Frankie leaned, kissing her again. He had no intentions to removing his arms from around her person until Antonio came home, and even then, he might just insist on a whole family cuddle on the couch to watch a Disney movie or something with Tony.

Finally, his whole world felt like it was together, everything in place. Complete.

~*~*~*~*~

Hawaii – One Year Later

Frankie was standing near the grill with Beau, when his phone rang. He checked over his shoulder and saw Beau waving him off.

“Thanks.”

He picked it up to see Pope’s face and number, so he answered.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Just calling to check on you. I saw I had a couple messages from you but my signal was a little iffy. How’s life in paradise?”

“Well, it’s paradise man, so pretty good. How’s life in Down Under?”

“Wrestled some crocs, fought a giant spider, you know- the usual.”

They both laughed and talked a bit longer. Frankie walked as they talked, finding himself standing under the shade of one of the trees at the edge of Miss Leilannee’s sister’s property. It was a large party Miss Leilannee was throwing for the beginning of summer. Her sister provided the place, and the two of them did the food with their husbands’ help.

Noelani and her girls came, along with her new fella. Frankie’s sister, her husband and the kids, Frankie, Antionio, Rose- along with her mom and Ray, as well as tons of Leilannee and Beau’s relatives, were all gathered to celebrate.

Noelani and several of the kids were playing with Noelani’s new boyfriend and Rose was under a large umbrella, helping Tony build a giant sand castle. Several kids ran around with squirt guns, a couple were dancing just at the water’s edge to practice for something later in the week.

Frankie watched as Rose finished a turret and Tony worked on digging out the mote. They were laughing and joking, happily building their little castle. It reminded him of last week when he came back from a late flight to find them adjusting their blanket fort in the living room.

“Catfish, you there?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.”

“What was so fascinating? Some new model helicopter fly by?”

“Nah. Rose and Tony are building a sandcastle. It’s huge.”

He heard Pope chuckle on the other end of the line.

“All of Hawaii and you are staring at a sandcastle.”

He smiled, thinking of something Rose had said to him that night in his kitchen, almost six years ago.

“More than that, brother.”

Pope let out a sigh.

“I get that. Will says watching Diwata and their little girl, with Benny, is like watching his whole world in three people.”

“Yeah, it’s about like that.”

“I’m glad, brother. For all of you.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, get back there and get to enjoying that cookout. Eat a second burger for me.”

“Will-do.”

“No he won’t. Now go on.”

“Bye.”

They hung up and Frankie slid the phone into the back pocket of his jeans before walking over to get under the umbrella with Rose and Tony. Tony moved, grabbing Frankie’s hand to drag him over.

“Come on, dad! You gotta see this!”

“Alright, I’m coming. I’m coming.”

Kneeling, he listened as Tony explained each part of the castle while Rose leaned against his shoulder, smiling and listening. He felt her hand move to catch his in the sand and he held her closer. This was it, right here. His whole world.

-The End-


End file.
